A different kind of destiny
by Chris Kenworthy
Summary: What if the gang found a way to trust Topolsky? What if the new faces and changing roles of late season one changed, yet again? What if destiny was more completely, amazingly different than you could possibly imagine?
1. Part 1: Dreamstruck

(Liz Parker's diary...)

March 25th, 2000:

We met up at the Quarry again this morning. Alex was approached by a mysterious someone outside the Crashdown last night. Apparently, he claimed to be a friend of Topolsky. Personally, I think if she had any friends here in Roswell, she'd have mentioned them. Could that guy from the Crashdown be an *enemy* of hers?

Also, Alex met up with the sheriff, who kinda got rid of scary car-guy. Alex and Max got into a bit of a difference of opinion about whether anyone else could be trusted. I tried to cool things down, pointing out to Alex that we had no idea what part of Topolsky's story might be true. He agreed, and the meeting pretty much broke up then. Max and I were in the middle, between Alex and Isabel, who had left first, and Michael and Maria, who were hanging back.

Until Alex came running back, waving Isabel to return too, calling out, "But we could, Liz! We could know what's going on in her head!"

That caused a bit of an uproar. It was a few minutes before Alex could explain his idea. "What we n-need, is to understand Topolsky's part in this. If she's trying to trap us, we need to know that for sure."

"Even if she wants to help us, she could get us killed," Michael warned. "If she's not lying, she's scared - scared of people that are probably our enemies too. If we try to help her, we could end up leading them right to us."

"Yes, Michael," Alex agreed. "But if we know what Topolsky knows, we might be able to find a way around that danger too."

"Know what she knows..." I repeated. "Alex, what are you thinking ab--" I trailed off.

"Isabel can tell what I'm talking about, can't she?" Alex turned to look at her. Isabel was as pale as a ghost. "You *can.*"

"You... you can't be serious..." she murmured quietly.

"I am," Alex said confidently.

"Isabel is right, Alex," Max said, stepping between the two of them. "There's no way that... that we could do that, right now, to Topolsky of all people. If she *is* still an FBI spy, it would mean confessing everything we need to keep hidden."

"No!!" Alex was almost shouting now. I looked around to make sure that nobody else was anywhere near. "Did you forget that she used it on me? I know what it's like... she won't suspect anything more than an ordinary dream at first. And if she does..." Alex scoffed. "God, what does it matter?? They can't take this to a court... I mean, if anything, it would just frighten them."

"Wait a second," I broke in again. "What... Alex, what the heck are you talking about?"

"Don't you know, Liz?" That was Maria... I hadn't even realized that she had circled around and was standing behind me. "Didn't... didn't I tell you before?"

"Tell me what?" I was really confused by this point.

"Isabel can... can go into people's dreams!!" Maria explained. "She did it to me, way back when the sherriff was nosing around and trying to find out about Max from me... and to Alex, when he was so mad at you about the blood thing." Maria paused a moment, adding things up in her mind. "Hey, Isabel, how come you never visited Liz Parker dreamland?? She never freak you out enough??"

Isabel shrugged, her face a study in mortification by now. "It... it never came up," she said diplomatically.

"Well," Max said, trying to get things back on track, "I believe the proposal on the table is that Isabel try to dreamwalk Topolsky and find out more. Thoughts?" He sighed. "I don't know... I agree with Alex that it wouldn't be as dangerous as going up to her in person and demonstrating our powers..."

"No," Michael scoffed. "Because nothing *could* be."

"It's a good plan," Alex argued. "You're in the dark - so you need information. And the potential benefits outweigh the risks."

"I... I think I agree," I put in. "I still think that Topolsky wants to help us. If this could be a way to persuade you guys of that, to let us help her, without endangering ourselves, I'm for it!"

"I can understand that," Max said, stepping next to me. All over, it seemed like my hair stood on end as he got near. "But the big question... is for you, Isabel." He turned to his sister, and I could see the worry and concern in his eyes. "Do you think you can do this? Do you even *want* to??"

"I... I'm not sure." Isabel was looking from Max to Michael... the one of her brothers encouraging, the other frowning. "God, how do I decide??"

"Come on, Isabel," Alex said, stepping up to her, and dropping his voice to give the illusion of privacy, though I could hear what he was saying, and I think some of the others could, too. "I meant what I said, back in the Cafe yesterday. The only thing... that matters to me here, is keeping you safe. I know this might be hard, but I think it's the best way for you to protect yourself. Can you trust me on that?"

"No," Isabel said, and Alex's face fell. "I can't take that on trust alone, but I think I agree with you, Alex. I'll do it." And half of Alex's smile came back.

Michael stood in Isabel's way as she started to head back to her car. "You sure I can't argue you out of this?"

Isabel looked back at us - me, Max, and Alex. The implication was clear... according to the voting precedent we'd set yesterday afternoon, it was four to one... with one vote as yet uncast. Even if Maria threw her vote behind Michael, like she had yesterday, Alex's motion had carried. "No... I'm sorry Michael, but I'm convinced."

"Then you had better hurry," Michael said, sighing. "I think Topolsky will be doing her sleeping this afternoon, not tonight."

You could have heard a pin drop on the rocks after Michael said that... if anybody had brought a pin to drop. "And... and how do you know this, Michael?" Max said after a lot of seconds.

Michael groaned. "She was at my apartment last night, okay? When I got home after Senor Chaos, she had found the orb, but she didn't try to take it out of the room. Yattered some nonsense about it being a communicator, or part of one, that she'd be waiting for us at Buckley point, but it'd be the last chance to make contact with her." A roar of backtalk was growing by now, but Michael drowned it out. "The *reason* I didn't say anything before now was that it didn't matter - we had decided not to fall for her mind games. But if you're going to do this dream thing, I thought you needed to know."

Isabel stepped up to Michael, smiling. "You're right." She reached up and wiped a little smudge off his cheek with her thumb. "Thank you, Michael."

* * * * *

ISABEL:

I looked around my room. My friends, all five of them, were *hovering.* I mean, I appreciate a little support, but this is getting ridiculous.

It's a good thing that Dad had to work this weekend and Mom has her Canasta game on Saturday afternoons. The six of us, coming into their house and immediately bustling up to my bedroom... it would've looked as if we were getting ready for an orgy or something. Oh my god, I can't believe I just thought that...

"Okay," I said aloud to everybody, trying to forget about that stray thought. "A lot of you are gonna have to leave - I'd never even get to sleep myself with all of ya hanging around and watching me."

"Sure," Maria said. We've never been 'best of galpals' close, and I think she was feeling as awkward about all this as I was. "Who do you want to go?"

"Um..." I tried to think. Was this tough choices day or something? "Two of you staying should be enough... Max and -" I *really* expected to hear myself say 'Michael' here, but... "And Alex."

Alex grinned so cutely when I mentioned his name. I'm not sure why I did it... well, I guess I have some ideas. This whole 'dreamwalk Topolsky' brainstorm was his in the first place, and...

And there's something so reassuring about having Alex around when things are getting sticky. I'd rather die than admit that to him, because Alex being Alex, he'd get cocky about it, and that's not what I love about him. Alex is cutest when he's nervous and blushing just a little bit, maybe shuffling his feet a bit.

I'm still not quite sure where the Alex-and-me situation is going in the long term. I still can't forget the way he kissed me a few weeks ago... but Alex is such a great guy, and I'm not really sure if I'm the Miss Right that he deserves. High school has been more than a bit lonely for him, but it won't be long before he could have his pick of all kinds of babes. And being my boyfriend... I can't shake the thought that whoever gets that role, even briefly, is going to be rewarded with pain and heartache...

"Hey, Is? Is??" Max was almost shaking me, and I realized that I had really zoned out, just sitting on my bed and staring off into space like a zombie.

"Sorry." I shuffled up the bed so I was half lying down and half propped up by the pillows. "Give me the picture."

Liz, Maria and Michael had left already, I noticed with some surprise. I had been so lost in thought I hadn't even heard the bedroom door's creaky hinges groan. Alex was sitting over next to my desk, and Max was leaning against my hope chest, right next to the bed.

"Here it is," Max said, passing me an old sheet of glossy paper. Liz had managed to dig up a copy of the school newsletter that announced Miss Topolsky as the new guidance counselor, which was good. Without a decent color photo of her, this whole plan might have never gotten off the ground. I don't know why I need the picture to dreamwalk... I just do, somehow. I can't make the connection without that reinforcing image of who I want to make contact with, no matter how well I know them. That's why I keep last year's high school yearbook under my bed.

"Don't you need to..." Alex started, then trailed off, blushing.

I looked over at him. "What, change into my pj's?" Alex blushed harder, and I think I may have flushed a little harder myself. "It's not necessary. Come a little closer, Alex." I waved at the side of my bed that Max wasn't hovering near. Alex pulled the chair closer, sitting near enough to reach out and grab my hand. If he got up the nerve.

"So..." Alex said, clearing his throat. "What *is* necessary, Isabel? What do you have to do?"

I smiled at him dramatically. "I just touch the picture," I suited action to word, wondering if Alex could see the tingle I always noticed as my powers interacted with the photograph, "And drift off to dreamland..."

We waited. Nothing happened.

"What went wrong??" Max asked, a nervous tone in his voice.

"Relax," I told him. "No connection. She's not asleep yet."

"Are you sure?" Alex asked. He didn't sound like he was doubting me, just curious about the whole procedure.

"Positive," I assured him. "I've done this enough to recognize the busy signal. I can't tell what Miss T. is up to, but dreaming she definitely ain't."

That got a laugh from both of the boys. "So, what next?" Alex asked.

"It is not to worry, I have dream-walker auto redial," I announced. "As long as I stay here, relaxed and at least vaguely aware of the picture, as soon as Kathleen goes to sleep, I will too."

"Cool," Max opined. For a little while, silence swallowed my bedroom whole. "Should we stay quiet, or would it be better to talk?" my brother finally asked.

I laughed. "We can chat, as long as it doesn't turn into a shouting match or anything. So..." Another pause. "Anyone have a topic?"

Everyone thought for a second. "Well, there's, umm..." Max muttered.

"We could... no, that's no good," Alex whispered.

What had he been about to say? "How about that substitute teacher in English Lit??" Max tried vainly.

I was about to ask Alex what he had been thinking of, when it started to happen. A wave of exhaustion hit me, and I knew that Topolsky had fallen asleep... or started to dream, whichever it was. "Wait..." I managed to gasp, and then the bedroom faded into blackness.

* * * *

I 'arrived' in a long dark hallway. It's weird how the dreamwalking often works that way, introducing me out of sight of the dreamer. I mean, if Topolsky isn't in this hallway, why is she dreaming it?

Because it's connected to where her dream self is, I guess. Once, when I was dreamwalking my mom, I went the wrong way, trying to find her dream self, and almost fell out of the dream into blackness. There are limits to this thing, and I can't help the feeling that those limits are dangerous.

Luckily, there were no such problems this time. The second doorway I came to was Topolsky's; I could see part of her face through the little glass window.

I tried the doorknob, fully expecting the door to be locked. It was, but on this side it was just a knob, which I twisted and the door pushed in. I went through, holding the door open.

"Come on, Kathleen," I told her. "I'm here to take you out."

Topolsky looked at me with wild eyes surrounded by dark circles. I hadn't seen her myself since she came back to Roswell, but I remembered what everybody had said about how hurt and scared she looked. I had to agree. "You can't, Isabel," she said suddenly, surprising me when she said my name. I figured she might recognize me, but I hadn't expected it so soon. "The door isn't open for me."

"It isn't?" I asked, confused. As if to demonstrate, Kathleen stood up, walked towards the door, and the door jumped! No, not jumped, but *blinked* - one second it was in my hand, the next second the door was solidly closed again. I rushed to open it again, but there wasn't even a doorknob on this side, much less a way to unlock it again. I was trapped in here with Ms. T.

I turned to her, feeling the first pangs of fear myself. "What happens now?"

"*HE* comes to interrogate us," Topolsky said. Sure enough, the door was opening again, by a dark-haired, tall, broad man in a navy three-piece suit. The way he was holding the door made it absolutely clear that neither of us were getting out. Actually, he didn't give any signs of noticing me, but I still didn't think I could get out of the cell. Not that leaving Topolsky was the point - learning about her through this dream was.

Still, I couldn't fight all of the fear I felt inside me. "Agent Topolsky," the interrogator roared. "We know that you're hiding something from us about Roswell. You know that we're not afraid to kill you!! Why the fuck aren't you getting with the program?"

Topolsky blanched with obvious fear, but she recovered enough to smile a tight-lipped little smile back. I realized that this part of the dream was either a memory or a fear-induced nightmare. So far, it seemed to back up Topolsky's story - and Michael's sensible worries. "Why haven't you put me out of my misery already, Agent Pierce?" she bit back caustically. "Maybe because, for all your bluster, you *don't* dare kill me - until you know what I know, at least."

The Pierce figure stopped to consider that. "And what do you suppose we do once we realize that you're not going to tell us what you know?"

"You still won't kill me," Kathleen continued. "You'll deal first. It's a hell of a trump I've got up my sleeve."

"There are other ways, Kathleen," Pierce remarked with dangerous mildness. He made a quick gesture, and Topolsky gasped in horror. I didn't see it at first - I was looking at Topolsky myself, so I didn't see what she saw. And then there they were - masked and uniformed figures hurrying into the cell, holding Ms. T down, one of them getting a hypodermic out, restraining her arm so that it would be perfectly motionless while the needle broke through her skin...

Suddenly the scene changed. I jumped a little, though this sort of thing wasn't totally unexpected. At first it was just scattered imagery - Topolsky leaving an run-down apartment building in the south side of Roswell, noticing as suspicious characters started to tail her. Then forests surrounded the two of us, and Ms T was scurrying from tree to shrub, doing a great half-drowned rat impression, and talking out loud as she stalked along. I hurried over to walk next to her. "They *knew* what they were doing. No accidental escape. They want me to go find Max... see if I can spook him into blowing cover. But how can I not? If Pierce realizes that I'm really not going to play ball, he'll just have one of his flunkies shoot me in the head, and I'll be dead, and that'll be that."

"Okay, Kathy," I grumbled under my breath as I narrowly missed tripping over an ugly tree root. (Nature is *so* annoying.) "Not really encouraging me about your sanity here."

Suddenly there was a crash, not incredibly loud but easily heard from the woods not that far behind us. "It's *them!!*" Topolsky groaned, grabbing my arm and hurrying me along. "I think I can find a way to outplay them. Warn Max. Maybe... maybe he can protect me. It's my only hope."

Suddenly a face-painted figure in khaki fatigues stepped out of the trees ahead and to the side of us, grabbing for Ms. T. She yelped and ran away, and the guy ended up with a grip around my neck. "Hey, what have we here?" Suddenly there were others like him all around me. "Isabel Evans. Wonder if it's possible to break an aliens' arm??"

I screamed.

* * * * *

MAX:

Alex and I watched as Isabel slept restlessly, caught in the grip of this dreamwalking thing she did. I didn't really understand the dream walk, and I didn't like that. Who could tell what the dangers might be?

Perhaps aware of my relentless stare, Alex looked up at me. "Do you think she's okay, Max?" He gestured at Isabel, as she tossed and turned, fear on her face. It was easy to see that Alex was as worried as I was.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I've never been here while Isabel did this, so I don't have any basis for comparison. From what I saw of Topolsky the other night though, I'd guess that her dreams will not be fun to visit." Alex's face fell further - this had all been his idea, and apparently he hadn't given enough attention to that detail. "So I'd assume that everything is going about as well as can be expected, until we get a new signal." Almost as if on cue, Isabel shuddered and gave out a wordless cry, which was followed by "Help, help! Let me go!!" Call that a signal to in my book.

Alex put a hand on Isabel's shoulder closest to him, and I took the shoulder closest to me, and we shook her gently, then not quite as gently, until sis opened her eyes. "Get your hands off me, you... oh! It's you guys!"

"What was happening in there?" I asked severely.

"Topolsky's nightmare picked on me a little too," she said quickly. "Nothing to worry about. The point is... I got the dirt."

"Don't worry about that now," I grumbled. "Rest now, we'll talk about it later."

"No, we'll talk about it now," Isabel countered. "We may not have much time." She turned to look at Alex, who was staring at her with radiant interest, and began. "Topolsky's telling the truth. She wants to help us, and the FBI is watching her, trying to get the dirt on us when she makes contact. But I think I might know a way to make contact with *her* and the FBI couldn't watch."

* * * * *

I waited nervously in the dark hallway, too keyed up even to count the seconds as they passed by. How had my darling devil of a sister managed to talk me into *this*?! Well, she had kept riding on that time limit, for one thing. And Alex had been quick to take up the cause. Between the two of them and the ticking clock, I had agreed to play out my role here even though it seemed far from a foolproof plan...

My cell phone vibrated once softly and no more - that was the signal. Taking a deep breath, I stepped over to the door and opened it. At first I couldn't see anything but the bright sunlight. Then things became clear - Topolsky, wearing the ridiculous hat, heading straight past me, no more than six feet away. The menacing men in the dark navy suits were more than a block away. I smiled quickly in the direction of Alex's hideout across the street and waved Topolsky in towards the door.

She was obviously quite startled, but Kathleen didn't hesitate. She hurried quickly past me and into the dark of the abandoned playhouse. I followed, rearranging the molecules of the door unobtrusively as soon as it was shut. By the time I caught up with Katy, she was standing near the middle of the old stage.

"This isn't the plan," she snarked with the twist of an upper lip. "I told your brother Michael - Buckley point. I was just heading there..."

"Right now," I finished for her. "We know, and we were worried that Buckley Point isn't safe - for either of us. So I arranged the meeting here."

"Okay, I guess," Katy muttered in response to that, shrugging carelessly. I waited for her to start talking again, but she didn't.

"Why did you call Michael my brother? He isn't, you know. Just a good friend."

"He's a lot more than that," Katy replied quickly. "You and your sister pretend that your relationship with Michael Guerin is purely casual, but we know better. The people that I used to work for and I, that is."

In the silence after she had finished talking, a gunshot rang out!! After only a second and a half, it was followed by another. Then a loud thud - it was from the door that I had let Topolsky in through. Both of us kinduv froze, and you could faintly make out bits of speech from the agents outside.

"...I'm *giving* it the shoulder grease. I'm telling you, this thing won't budge!"

"Well, it just opened a minute ago - he must have slid a bar across or something..." A few more gunshots rang out, and I couldn't help but snicker. If they had enough bullets to actually shoot open a hole in the wall, they might get somewhere. I didn't think they'd go that far.

"C'mon... there's gotta be another way into this place," the first voice said again, and I looked around quickly. The front door of the theater was locked, but not 'secured,' and the goons might be able to get in. Once through the foyer, they would be able to see us immediately if we stayed on the stage. Quickly I pointed Topolsky over to the ladder and started climbing up to the catwalk myself.

From that height, it wasn't easy to hear out of the building anymore, so I turned back to Katy. "That's... that's what I wanted to talk to you about," I stuttered, trying to get back to the old thread of conversation. "The people you used to work for. We've decided to help you against them, but I have to say that we -- don't know if some... ship is going to come and save us in the nick of time."

"One way to find out." Katy reached into a bulky pocket and pulled out a heavy metallic orb - obviously the mate of the one Liz and I had found underneath that radio tower, out in the desert. (God, remembering that night still seemed to make my blood flow warmer.) "Where's yours?"

"Umm... I didn't bring mine," I admitted. "Can I look at that one?"

She snatched the orb away. "You can't take it away from me," she snapped. "This may be the only leverage I have, and I'm not going to give it away. Not until you save me."

I thought about that a second. "Save you?"

"I'm under Pierce's magnifying glass right now," she clarified. "I can't get out from underneath it by myself no matter what I do, and one of these days he just might decide to fry me like an ant. If you and your friends can spring me, lose me, get me somewhere safe that his goons can't find me, then the orb is yours."

"Okay," I agreed. "That was the plan anyway. But we can't do it yet. Are you going to be okay, for a few days?"

This time it was Topolsky's turn to consider. "Yeah. They'll know I've made contact with you, and nobody's going to kill the lead - not until Pierce's paranoia gets pretty big, and that shouldn't be for four or five days. But you better not leave me in here to fry, Max Evans!"

"I won't," I promised her. "Now, if making it clear that I found you will help..."

I watched as Katy climbed down a different ladder - trying not to be aware that the goons were just around the corner - until they stepped into plain sight, everybody spotted each other, and they pulled her down off of the wooden slats. "Where is he?"

Katy shook her head at first, playing the part.

"Don't make me hurt you, bitch!" As the large, strong man lifted up his fist to strike her, Katy let go a cry of fear and started to babble.

"He... he was so arrogant. He's headed back the way we came in - he knows how to open that door again.

The agents looked at each other, and then by unspoken agreement one of them stayed with Katy and the other hurried over to the side stage door.

Neither of them was watching as I slipped down the small staircase into the foyer and out the front door of the playhouse.

* * * * *

(LPD [Liz Parker's diary] again...)

March 26th, 2000. Just after midnight now.

Well, everything worked out for the best, it seemed. Isabel got into Topolsky's dream, learned what she needed to know, and got out without Ms. Topolsky even realizing she was more than a dream figure herself. Max seems to be none the worse for his meeting with Topolsky plus two special guests, though somehow I felt... worried in retrospect, once I heard about it. Isn't that crazy? I mean, he was fine and everything was done by the time he called me to check in, yet my mind can't help but crank out scenarios of what might have gone wrong. What if those agents had caught him? What if he'd tripped off one of those catwalks and broken his foolish neck? Well, I guess I'm being completely crazy now.

The six of us had a pleasant evening of 'staying under cover.' Nobody really felt like going out and 'pretending we had nothing to hide' again, so we all stayed in at my place. Pizza for dinner and a classic video double feature - "Monty Python and the holy grail" and "Return of the jedi."

By the time the credits had rolled up on the big victory celebration on Endor, Alex and Isabel were sitting *very* close next to each other on the floor between the couch and the tv in the living room. Maria and Michael were sitting on the couch, a little space between them like they weren't sure where they stood with each other yet, but I noticed that they'd each let a hand fall down next to the other one's hand in the space between them. As far as Max and I, he was sitting in the armchair, and I was sitting on one of the arms, with my legs crossing over his and he had wrapped one arm around my waist.

Isabel kind of stretched a little and noticed Michael's hand - the one that *wasn't* next to Maria's. "Why do you have that here Michael? We said we were going to be keeping it at your place."

Michael kinda shrugged a little. "Why the big deal, Iz? It's safer here with me and all of us than it would be in my apartment when nobody's there."

"But if you're carrying that thing with you wherever you go, Michael, somebody's going to notice and start to get curious," Maria pointed out.

"I know that," he replied with a touch of acid in his voice. "I'm not gonna 'take it with me wherever I go.' I just... didn't want to leave it there, tonight okay? Not after what Topolsky said to Max..."

"You still don't trust her, do you?" I put in.

"No, it's not that. If Isabel says she's good, I'm willing to go along with that. It's just... how the hell does she know what these things do when *we* don't?"

"Maybe she's just guessing," Alex said. "These FBI types, they've probably been theorizing a lot about aliens, maybe even going back to the '47 crash, but if they knew all that much, wouldn't it have been easier for them to find you?"

"Thanks so much for *that* comforting thought, Alex," Isabel grumped.

"No, no, I get what he's saying," Max said. "These kinds of alien hypotheses probably get passed from person to person, but when they pass through enough people, sometimes they assume the status of 'facts.' We don't really know *anything* about the orbs, except that the two of them are related. Whether they're meant to work seperately or together, as a communicator, a tool, a weapon - that's for us to figure out."

"Well, have you tried *doing* anything with the one you've got?" Maria pointed out. "I mean -- start figuring, Maxxy boy. Hey Michael." She dug her elbow into Michael's ribs with a grin and a giggle. "Hand it over, spaceboy."

The orb was passed from Michael to Maria to me to Max. Max kind of held it dubiously for a few seconds. "What do I *do* to it?"

Maria sighed loudly. "I dunno, Max, this is your department. Try to connect with it. Use your Czechoslovakian powers."

Max concentrated, then closed his eyes and his face somehow assumed an expression of deep meditation for almost a minute. Finally he opened his eyes and was back to his usual self. "I... I couldn't make it do anything," he admitted. "But I *felt* something - like a metaphysical dialtone almost. This thing *is* a link to soneone or something else, and I don't think it needs the other orb to work. We just need to figure out how the hell to use it."

"Hey, let me try," Isabel said, and Max handed the orb over. A lot of playing around with the thing followed. Isabel said she thought she could feel what Max was talking about, but she wasn't sure. Michael couldn't get any of it, (which he was pissed about,) and of course the rest of us couldn't either.

Everyone has gone home now. I should be going to bed. But I can't stop thinking about it all - about the orb, about Topolsky. I know I wanted to believe her from the beginning, to help her out, because she sounded so very frightened. But now that the decision's been made, I can't help but feel afraid myself. She's a dangerous friend to have, especially with this 'Pierce' person watching her.

I'd die if anybody took Max away from me now.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Part 2a: Liberation, confusion, and her

(LPD - Liz Parker's diary.)

Sunday, April 16, 2001. 10:33 pm.

Been pretty dull today. Mostly just trying to pretend that nothing unusual is going on lately, like an FBI agent turned guidance counselor turned renegade waiting for us to save her from the alien hunter. Plus all the usual weirdness.

Michael is insisting that it's his turn next to find a way to contact Topolsky. 'Stubborn' is a word I tend to think of often to describe Michael, but he's capable of some remarkable swings of attitude too. Once it was clear that Max and Isabel had committed everybody to this plan, Michael's only worry was making sure that it worked. He's been working on 'escape plans' for our favorite substitute geometry teacher too. (That's Ms. Topolsky too, by the way, just in case I wasn't being clear. The first time I met her, she was subbing in Mister Singer's class, before she'd even established her cover as the guidance counsellor. And 'favorite' might be sarcasm, I'm not quite sure.)

One kinda scary thing did happen tonight at the cafe. I was on shift alone, there isn't really a need for more than one person since Sunday evenings are dead for business. Max, Isabel, and Michael were all hanging around, and I was kinduv play-flirting with Max while giving him a refill - I mean, we're really past the flirting stage, but it's still fun. Isabel grumbled something about us giving her the creeps, and that's when it happened.

Sheriff Valenti walked in - he had his coffee thermos, which he sometimes gets refilled here, but I'm pretty sure he didn't come for the coffee. He asked me about Topolsky - right out of the blue. Said "I've seen her around town, and since her disappearance last November is still on file as a missing persons case, I'd like to be able to ask our Miss Topolsky a few questions. Do you know if she's gone back to counselling at the high school?"

Of course, that was an easy one, I could tell Valenti that I was pretty sure I hadn't heard anything about Topolsky working at the high school again, and that I hadn't seen her there. Then he asked me if I've seen her at all in the past month - and I wasn't sure what to say. Made a big show of pouring the coffee into that narrow container, just as a stalling tactic. I mean, it was a pretty clear thing that I didn't want Valenti to know all that we know about Kathleen Topolsky's return to Roswell, but also I know that I'm not a good liar. So I blurted out a half-truth, that I think I remember seeing her within the past week, but she didn't talk to me. He asked me where, and I said Senor Chao's, just because I couldn't think of any other place.

"Well, at least that's a place to start," he told me. "I guess I'll go ask over at the Senor's, then. Been too long since I caught up with him anyway."

"You mean there really is a Senor Chao?" I asked like an idiot.

Valenti smiled at me, and in that second I could swear that his eyes were seeing right through me. "Oh, yeah." He put on a showy grin. "Helluva guy." And then Jim Valenti was gone, coffee thermos in hand.

Max said that I handled it fine. I'm pretty sure that Michael doesn't think so, and I'd have to agree. Even if Valenti doesn't have any suspicions right now, if he asks around at Senor Chao's he might find out that Topolsky was seen at my table, talking to me, which means that he'd know I lied right there.

A little later, that Tess girl was hanging around the Crashdown. I don't know what to make of her. Isabel says that she's a new friend, but there's something about the way she looks at Max and me - and Michael, even Isabel when she thinks nobody's looking. Could it be possible that the flawless blonde teen queen is just the mask of another player in this crazy game?

Fortunately, I didn't have much time to worry about Tess. Soon after she showed up, Max got me alone in the kitchen, and as you might have noticed, he has some very effective ways of keeping me from thinking too much. I had a flash while we were making out; I didn't mention it to him yet...

* * * * *

ISABEL:

I walked up to my locker and worked the combination. Normal, Isabel. Concentrate on normal. Just act as if you aren't an accessory to conspiracy, effectively harboring a fugitive from the FBI...

"Hey, Isabel," Maria said. I jumped - I hadn't realized she was standing right next to my locker until the girl spoke. "I, uh, I gotta have a little talk with you, I think."

I sighed a little as I went over my morning schedule mentally and took the big thick geometry text out of my locker. "So... talk?"

"It's.... um... it's about Alex."

Now *that* registered. I closed the locker door and looked over at the other girl. "Alex?? Do you really think that Alex is someone that you and I need to discuss?"

"Well, in general I'd say no." Maria paused for a long moment. "But Alex... well, he isn't your average adolescent male. As I'm sure you've noticed."

I fought back a smile and nodded. "Go on."

"And, well... the current circumstances being what they are between you and our bassist friend, I was thinking that, all cliches aside, it would be prudent to..."

Enough of this. "Are you trying to ask," I interrupted, "what my intentions are towards Alex?"

Maria pouted. "Actually, I was trying very hard *not* to ask you in those words, but that's the gist nevertheless. So??"

I took a moment. "Well, I have to admit - a little bit caught off guard here, not sure what to say," I babbled. "I like Alex, I really do. But... well, you remember how it was with you and Michael, back last fall. How would you have..."

"Oh, whoops!" Maria interrupted me. In the sudden silence, I could hear rhythmic chanting coming from down the hall:

"...U!! Gimme an 'M'! M!! Gimme an 'A'! A!! Gimme an 'N'..."

"...The pep rally's started and I'm not in uniform!" Maria complained.

"But...." It took a minute to decide what the appropriate objection is. "But you're not a cheerleader or anything, Maria."

"Oh, that's just what I *wanted* you to believe!!"

I was still trying to figure that one out when Maria ran off towards the dopey chanting. That's when Max came marching down the hall, pounding one of those giant strap-on-in-front drums. The drum had a big picture of an ostrich on it, and...

And that's when I woke up, in my bed at home. It had all been just a kinda weird dream. Well... weirder than the usual, if less than full nightmare status. Groan. Looked over at the clock on my bedside table. 4:52 am.

Well, since I'm awake, might as well check in on Ms. T-sley. I pulled out the picture from inside the ol' yearbook under my bed, centered my energy, and tapped it.

Quick fade to black and up goes the curtain to Topolsky's dreamworld. The first thing I noticed was that I was in black and white - in fact, everything around me was. I'd never really seen the pre-technicolor effect in dreams before, so that was interesting.

The second thing I noticed was that I wasn't in my pajamas. I was wearing an old-fashioned dress and sitting behind a desk in an empty office. That meant that I wasn't just an observer this time - I had been instantly drafted by Topolsky's subconsious to appear as a supporting character in her dream. That *did* happen occasionally. Soon enough, Topolsky would be entering this room.

Well, might as well use the time getting familiar with the setting. A quick survey of my surroundings made it clear that I wasn't actually back in the heyday of shades-of-gray. This room seemed to be circa 1990, including the pre-Windows computer on the desk, and the clothes I was wearing seemed to be fasionable yet businesslike for that time period. I guess the lack of color was a film noir effect or whatever.

And then the office door opened. I looked up, expecting it to be Topolsky, but it was another of Topolsky's drafted-from-life dream characters. (Though this one hadn't been dreamwalking her, at least to god I hoped not.) Specifically, the man entering was Jim Valenti, wearing a conservative dark suit. Then Topolsky followed him through the door, also dressed in the people-in-black style. Hmm... did our Miz Topolsky have a thing for the sheriff?? Either way, she had probably pulled Valenti's face out of her subconscious to play whatever role in this dream.

"I'm telling you, Agent Tully..." Valenti's character was saying. "there are aliens living in the woods outside that small Wisconsin town!"

"And if I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, Valder," Topolsky bantered back. "There's *no* such thing as aliens. Becky, any messages for me?"

"Then how do you explain all of the strange things that we've seen over the years?" 'Valder' pressed. Okay... so Topolsky's dreaming a very bad X-files ripoff. It's better than the Special Unit nightmares at any rate... and kinda funny actually.

"It's all right there in the case files, Valder... I'll admit we've been assigned to our share of unusual assignments with the Z patrol, but there's a reasonable explanation for each and every one of them... Becky?!" Topolsky turned to face me with a sever expression. "Did you hear me??"

Whoops. Obviously I was Becky, the receptionist. "Umm... no, nobody's called for you, Miz Tully," I ad-libbed back, then noticed something on the desk in front of me with the name 'Tully' on it. "Mail's come, though." I passed the envelope over towards her.

Valenti-Valder seemed to have hardly paid attention to that whole exchange - the secretary was beneath his notice I guess. "Well, we're flying out to Wisconsin this morning anyways," he told Topolsky. "This poor girl..." he was pulling a photograph out of his jacket, "the 'Cheese queen' of Arlington, was found dead her brain fluid drained." He passed the photo to Agent Tully, who looked at it. "Now, if this isn't a case for..."

"Just wait one second!!" I burst out. Valenti glared at me as I hurried out of my seat at the dest, and even Topolsky/Tully seemed confused, but I was past that now. I'd caught a glimpse of the photo when Topolsky took it, and... "Could I have a look at that picture, please??"

"Umm... sure, Becky," Agent Tully seemed quite confused as she handed the photograph over to me, and Valenti was quickly getting annoyed. (Sorry, I know I'm not even really making an effort to keep the dream names and real names straight.) I took one look at the image and then I was sure.

"This is Tess! What is she doing in this picture?"

"Her *name* is Emily Martin, and I'll thank you not to spread speculation into our investi--" Valder started to rant.

"You're Kathleen Topolsky, and you're dreaming," I told Miss T, cutting him off. "Could you do something about *him* so we can talk??"

Topolsky blinked in that way that people tended to while making the transition to lucid dreaming. (I just hoped that she wouldn't be one of those people who wake up when they realize that they're dreaming.) Then she glanced over at the Valenti figure and he froze motionless, like he had been caught in a field of paused time.

"You -- you're Max's sister!" Topolsky said, making the connection for the first time. "And you... you were in my dream before, too. Were you the one who told him where to find me?"

"You can thank me later," I joked, and held the photo back up in her line of vision. "THIS is Tess Harding - a new girl at school. Did you see her there on campus, or at her home?? There has to be some reason why she showed up in your dream."

"Her??" Topolsky squinted as she tried to remember. (She was still in her costume for the dream, as was I, and I noticed idly that at least she hadn't turned her hair red for the Gillian Anderson role. Even in black and white, red hair wouldn't be quite as bright as hers was.) "No... no, I've neer seen this girl in Roswell."

"Then where *have* you seen her??" I demanded, starting to dread the answer.

"She... she was in the Special Unit headquarters in Santa Fe while I was being debriefed there. That girl... and an older man, could have been her father. Talking to Pierce and some of the other high-ups. Didn't seem like they were in trouble..."

"You mean, she's working with them??" I jumped to conclude. "Of course, it all makes sense. Why would she choose me, out of the whole school, to instantly befriend? Because that's her mission."

"Be careful..." Topolsky warned me as the office started to dissolve - she was waking up. "All of our lives are at risk..."

* * * * *

ALEX:

"The first step is that we need a communications system that doesn't incriminate us," Michael Guerin mused.

I looked up from my plateful of pancakes and took a thoughtful bite. "Sure."

"I mean, look at the situation for a moment. Where do we know to look for Topolsky? Onlt that old apartment building. The FBI has to have the premises under physical surveillance. Any of us so much as go near the place... BAM!" Michael clapped his hands loudly near my face, and I swatted him away with an (I think,) justified annoyance. "Same thing for the telephone line - wiretaps. There's no obvious way to make contact that isn't trapped. Now, I'm clever enough to work around the obvious, but we need to set up some channels so that..."

"Blueberry m--" I burst out, starting to use the look-out phrase we had agreed on, but "Oh, it's just Isabel." Like I ever thought I'd catch myself saying that! A lot of words sprang to mind thinking about Isabel Evans, but 'just'??

I can see how other people might think it. Isabel Evans. 'Just another stuck- up teen queen.' 'Just another pretty face.' 'Just my sister.' 'Just a friend...'

I never thought I bought into it, though. Even before I knew about the alien thing, I always felt that I could sense this incredibly passionate and caring spirit in Isabel - a true heart that she never let anyone else see clearly, behind her walls. Now I guess I know why she builds up the walls.

"Some kind of open signal might make sense," Michael wondered out loud, since he obviously wasn't aware of my wandering thoughts. "A pounding drum or something, which everyone in the area would hear but only Topolsky would understand the meaning of. Problem with that is that the FBI would make the connection soon enough too, and track the drum or whatever we were using."

"What's across the street from Topolsky's window, anyways" I asked, getting into it. "We might be able to do something with..."

"Hey, heckle and jeckel?!" Isabel burst out in a fierce hiss, cutting me off. "Could you keep quiet for just a moment?? We've got bigger problems here."

I decided not to point out that Isabel had to have joined us several moments before Michael started the conversation up again. "Yeah? What is it??" I prompted, and let Isabel take the time to sort out what she wanted to say.

"I think Tess Harding is an undercover agent for the Special Unit," she whispered. "Just like Topolsky was when she first showed up here."

"Who is Tess Harding??" Michael muttered, unable to hide his scowl.

Fortunately, (or was it?) I had a little information on that. "Tess 'your- new-best-girlfriend' Harding??" The girl who managed to twice get in the way of what I ever-optimistically hoped were 'moments' with Isabel, within the past four days or so?

"Don't remind me - I'm beating up on myself for that enough for all tree of us," Isabel sighed. "I know better than to trust a stranger right out of the blue." She sighed sadly.

"Okay, okay, let's not get bent out of shape here," I interjected. "First off, what makes you think she's FBI, or 'Special Unit' or whatever??"

"Topolsky I.D.'d her," Iz explained. "I saw Tess' face in one of her dreams, and asked her about it. She remembered seeing Tess in special unit headquarters two weeks ago. Didn't even know she was in Roswell until I told her."

"It makes some sense," Michael muttered pensively. "Whoever sent Topolsky already knew to look for aliens at the high school, or why else give her a cover as a guidance counselor?? And the most obvious reason she failed was that she couldn't get Liz or Alex to trust her. Because she was older. So this time they're sending in a teenager."

"Thanks for that capsule summary, Sherlock," Isabel told Michael wryly. "But now that we know, none of us will trust her. We know better. Or her father - Topolsky said she was with an older man at the Special unit, so that could have been her father, or someone who was supposed to PLAY her father. Spread the word."

"Umm... uh, okay," Michael muttered, somewhat put out by Isabel's attitude. "Max will be in english lit right now. I can drop by to crash the end of class and fill him in."

"Wait a second," I burted out. "Aren't you in that class too? What were you doing out here all this time?!"

Michael shot me a withering glance from two paces away from the table. "Do you know me at all?" he asked, and then continued on his way.

"Umm." Awkward silence here, and it didn't help to realize that I was now alone with Isabel. (If you ignored the other high school students that surrounded us at a distance.) "So...." Lame attempt to inspire a new topic of conversation, I know.

Isabel kind of half-smiled at me. "So?"

"So... you went into Miss Topolsky's dreams again??" I asked, trying to keep the tone of my voice casual.

"Yeah... just woke up and decided on a check-in. Wasn't so bad this time - an X-files fantasy starring Valenti, until I spotted the picture of Tess that is. You know, I think Topolsky has something of a crush on Jimmy V. the second."

Alex couldn't resist a chuckle at the thought of that pairing. "No offense, I hope they don't hook up because of the sheer complication it would introduce in *our* lives."

Isabel laughed at that. "Yeah." Then, as the laugh died down, she kind of cocked her head, like a thought was occuring to her, and *blushed.* I've never seen Isabel blush before, but it was unmistakeable. A rosy pink covered her smooth cheeks, and traces of color spread out over half of the rest of her face.

I couldn't resist asking. "What... what is it, Isabel?"

"I, umm..." I think Iz was trying to fight off the blush, but without much success - she might have even *lost* ground. "I was just thinking of *my* dream." She probably caught my look of surprise about that. "I... I had a dream last night too. When I woke up from it... well, that's what gave me the idea to pop in on Katy."

"Uh, okay," I said. "So, this dream..." I took a wild guess. "Was I in the dream, by any chance??"

"Well, not as such," Isabel confessed with a shy smile. "But... well, you were mentioned."

"'Mentioned'??" I repeated. Now this was getting intriguing. "Mentioned by whom, might I ask," grinning back at her.

"Um... Maria." The blush got even more intense, (surprising but possible, it seemed.) "She asked me, in the dream that is, Maria asked me what my intentions were towards you. Or something along those lines." Isabel was looking down at the table furiously.

"Oh!!" I'm sure I blinked at least three times after that. "Umm... what did you tell her??"

"Well, I didn't really have a chance to say much..." Isabel waffled, "Maria had to run off to cheerleading practice and Max came by beating this big ostrich drums\..." She looked up at me, a priceless look on her face. "The dream wasn't that weird until the very end, by the way."

"Got it." I sighed, then decided to try once more. "If you *had* had a chance to say something, do you know what it would have been??"

"Well, no!" Isabel replied. "I mean... I like you, Alex. But things are so complicated in my life to start with, and every time I even think about... well, you know, letting someone new in *like that,* a new reason pops up why it would be a bad idea."

My spirits fell like a quarter plummeting into a wishing well. "Right." I nodded, trying not to let my numbing sadness show. "Bad idea."

"Alex." Isabel's hand touched my knee gently, and I looked up to see that she was shaking her head at me and smiling. "But I think I've realized something lately - that I can't keep stopping from living my life because I'm scared."

Wow. "Umm... does that... does that mean -- what I think it does??" Not the best rejoinder in the world, but hey.

"Er-- yeah, yeah, I think it does," Isabel agreed, and then she kissed me. Quick, but soft and very good, on the lips.

"Oh, wow," was all that I could say. But from the way Iz was smiling at me, somehow I could tell that she knew how I felt. There wouldn't be a big enough website in the world to tell everybody how happy I was at that moment.

* * * * *

"So..." Liz said, coming over to her seat beside mine for art history, third period. "Rumor has it that you and Isabel Evans were spotted in 'Smoochville, the quad' this morning. Should I offer my congratulations?" Maria took her seat behind me.

"Actually, the tactful thing would be not to mention it," I joked. "A respectful silence is all the congratulations I need."

"Oh, come on, Alex," Maria chided me. "Is something wrong??"

"No," I sighed. "Just... well, things between me and Isabel are still up in the air a little... we're giving things a try, but I'd rather not make a big deal out of it and get my hopes up. Okay?" Liz nodded, and Maria murmured her understanding. "Oh, and you know Isabel's quote unquote friend, Tess Harding?"

"I'm... familiar with her work," Maria teased.

I looked around to make sure no one was paying us attention before continuing, softly. "She's FBI. Topolsky ID'd her in a dream conference with Isabel this morning. Spread the... well, I guess now that you girls know, the only one who might not know... is Max." Yeah, I remembered that Michael had gone to tell Max. Just be patient.

"Ohh??" Liz said, perking up and getting that smile she always does when young Mister Evans' name is mentioned. "Well... I can fix that... he has study hall this period, yes?" She put up her hand and turned earnestly to the front of the class. "Miz Copperton? May I have a hall pass, please?" The teacher looked up from filling out attendance and didn't even give Liz the second degree before filling out the pass.

Maria tapped me on the shoulder as the lecture on the influence of Picasso on the art world during the last twenty years before his death began. "Alex, Max already knows, doesn't he??"

"Unless Michael was distracted by a white elephant on the way to English Lit then yeah, Max knows." I whispered back. "Hey... I like to spread a little happiness around."

We didn't talk during most of the rest of the lecture, and then Miz Copperton gave us some time for working on the answers to the questions at the end of the chapter and discussing them amongst ourselves. Liz had managed to drag herself back to class by this point, with fresh Max-Evans- glow (metaphorically) spread all over her face.

"So," Maria said after a little while, possibly groping for a topic that didn't involve aliens, "either of you interested in going to that 'Bandz festival' thing this weekend??"

"Hmm..." I muttered. "I've been thinking about it." Wonder if Isabel would like to go to something like that.

"I've seen a few signs, but... well, what exactly is the deal there?" Liz asked. "I don't think I get it."

"It's like a cross between a music festival and a big 'Battle of the bands' contest, over in Phillips park," I explained helpfully. "Wannabe music groups come around from all over to play a few songs each and compete for a cash prize. They'll probably have food vendors and games and a few rides set up too, like a miniature carnival."

"Hmmm... sounds cool. Maybe I'll ask Max to take me." Liz giggled, and I couldn't help but smile. Things seemed finally to be getting together for all our odd love connections, if only we could keep from getting caught by the FBI or anything. "Hmm... how about this for number ten, Maria?" Liz passed Maria a note paper filled with with six long paragraphs, all under the number ten heading.

"Hmmm..." Maria scanned Liz's answer. "Yeah, that sounds about right." I couldn't help noticing that on Maria's worksheet, she had exactly two sentences for number ten.

* * * * *

MICHAEL:

We all met up at a lunch table out near the edge of the quad, where no-one tended to hang out. If anyone came near enough to listen in, we'd be sure to see them first.

"I think we should start taking a closer look at this Tess girl," Maria suggested. "Find out what she knews, What she's trying to find out about us."

"Good, go snooping around," Isabel cracked. "Give her a chance to catch on that we've made her."

"Easy, okay??" Max recommended. "Tess Harding is not the problem. If we stay clear of her, she won't have a chance to find out *anything* about us."

"Yeah, 'cause that worked SO well with Topolsky," Maria muttered. Alex blushed. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean..."

"Max is right," Liz commented. Oh, big surprise there. "Anyone sent here by the Special Unit is dangerous. We avoid her as much as we can."

"Meanwhile," I suggested, "what *is* the problem at hand... is making the next rendezvous with Topolsky, and figuring out how to get her away from the Special Unit for good." That queasy feeling was getting harder and harder to push down. If Isabel said we could trust Topolsky, then I had to have faith in that. "I have a plan."

Alex smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah. This is how it's gonna break down. Maria, you and I are gonna have to drive down to Hondo in the Jetta tomorrow afternoon. Isabel, Alex... I think you guys should make the meet. Topolsky will trust both of you. Max, Liz, the two of you are both too high profile. Go out, have dinner somewhere in a public place and get yourselves alibis. Oh, and Isabel, you'll probably have to dreamwalk Miz T sometime between now and tomorrow. It's the most secure way we have of communicating to her what she has to do. Now..."

"Blueberry muffins," Alex said out of thin air. What the...?? Oh, he was re- using the signal from this morning, which meant... someone was approaching the table, and not just any someone. I recognized the pretty blonde girl from the descriptions that had been flying everywhere since this morning. Tess Harding. FBI Mole girl.

"Uh, hey..." Tess said with inly a trace of embarassment, "I didn't mean to interrupt your talk, but... Isabel? My dad got some tickets to an acoustic set down at the radio station with a mystery guest artist, and I was wondering if you wanted to..."

"I'm busy tonight, Tess." Isabel snapped.

"It... the set isn't until Th-thursday night," Tess stammered out. "I just thought I should let you know as soon as,"

"I'm b..." Isabel started, but Max kicked her under the table. If Isabel cut ties with Tess too abruptly, she could start to get suspicious. After a second, Isabel realized the danger. "I'm gonna have to get back to you about that, okay, Tess?"

"Sure. Nice to see you again, Alex, Liz, Michael, Isabel... Bye, all." She waved cutely and left.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Part 2b

STILL MICHAEL.

Maria rolled the Jetta to a stop next to the curb, power-downed the window, and straightened her ray-bans. "Well, it's time. Let's go."

I smiled a little, walked suavely around the front of the car, and climbed into the shotgun seat. "Yo." As an afterthought I pulled the seat belt around myself and shoved the buckle in, since Maria's been known to get on my case and refuse to start driving until everyone's 'buckled up.'

She put the manual transmission down into first gear and pulled away. "So... Hondo, huh? What does that have to do with the plan?"

I looked around self-consciously. "I think it'd be better to wait until we get there to say any more. Just in case."

"Just in case what??" Maria shot back. I shrugged, and Maria let that drop.

The highway passed by in silence, and the silence became awkward, and then stifling. I groped for a topic of conversation, but couldn't seem to find anything.

"If it hadn't been for the fifty-third bicycle, he would never have died," Maria blurted out. I stared at her.

"Who the heck are you talking about??"

She shot a glance at me as best she could without losing control of the car. "It's a party game, stupid. One person starts with a cryptic statement or a mystery - that would be me - and everyone else has to ask yes-no questions until they can solve the mystery. You up for it??"

I considered a moment. It all seemed a little lame, but there was nothing else offering to relieve the boredom of this trip. "Okay, sure. Was he run over or hit by the bicycle?"

Maria paused only a second. "No."

"Was he killed by someone who was trying to steal the bicycle?" "No." "Was he killed becayse *he* was trying to steal the bicycle?" "No." "Was the fifty-third bicycle stolen by an... Did anyone try to steal the fifty-third bicycle?" "No."

I took stock for a second. "Is the fact that it was the fifty-third bicycle important?" "Yes." "Would his death be considered a murder?" "Yes." "Was he strangled with something?" "No." "Was he shot to death?" "Yes."

Okay, now we were getting somewhere. But the facts still didn't seem to fit together. "Was the fifty-third bicycle part of the motive for the shooting?" "Yes." "Did the shooter want the bicycle?" "Umm... I'm gonna say no." "Was he angry about something to do with the bicycle?" "Yes."

"Did the dead guy own the bicycle?" "Yeah, I guess so." "Was... was the bicycle the getaway vehicle for a robbery?" "No." "Did anyone ride the bicycle..." "No."

Whoa! Now this just got interesting. I'd been about to put on a time frame, but Maria answered while I was hesitating. "Just to clarify... this bicycle has never, *ever* been ridden?" "No, it hasn't," Maria agreed, and let a little giggle slip.

"Was it a showpiece?" "No." "Was it... used in some way that didn't involve being ridden?" "Yes." Okay, this was weird. And the shooter didn't want the bicycle but was angry about it for some reason...

Then it hit me. "Does the 'bicycle' refer to something other than a riding device with two tires?" "Oh yes!" "Does it refer to a playing card??" Hank was something of a gambler, so I did vaguely know that 'bicycle' was a brand of playing cards, though I had taken a while to clue in about that. "Is the fifty-third bicycle the joker?" Made sense, fifty-two cards in the regular deck...

"No." Darnit. "Does what card it is matter?" "No, not really." "Is it..." I racked my brain. "Was it a cheating card, slipped into the game from another identical deck?" "Yes!" "And the 'owner' of the fifty-third bicycle was shot because he was caught in the middle of his cheating!!"

"Yeah!!" Maria confirmed. "Not bad, spaceboy! That's... that was twenty-two questions, right?"

"I dunno," I admitted. "I wasn't counting. But I've heard a few of these, wanna switch places?"

"Sure," Maria agreed, smiling. "Gimme what you got, Guerin."

I thought a second. "Peter and Jane are lying dead, on the floor in a p--"

"Oh, c'mon, give me a little credit," Maria interrupted. "Heard that one so many times it's not funny."

I frowned and considered. "When the lights went out, he knew she was dead."

"Heard it."

Rack my brain a third time. "When the music stopped, he was doomed to die."

Maria blinked a few times. "Haven't heard it. Is this a real one, or are you just making up a variation on that last one?"

"I heard it from a girl at West Lake orphanage years ago," I assured her. "Are you scared to really take me on?"

"You wish!" Maria laughed. "Let's see... was it a murder?"

"Hmm... I'll say yes." "Was the music a signal to the killer?" Hehe. "No." "Umm... did the music..."

"Wait a second," I interrupted, "this is..."

"Are you gonna go and change one of your answers, spaceboy??" Maria counter- interrupted me.

"No!" I told her witheringly, and waved to a road leading off from the small highway. "That was our exit."

"Oh." For a second, Maria seemed properly humble, and then she retorted, "Well, you could have given me more warning! Well, I'll get off at the next exit - will we need to take the highway back the other way, or is there another way around?"

"Um... lemme see," I muttered, getting out the map I'd prepared while planning Maria's and my part of the mission. Thank god that Hondo actually *had* two exits on route 70 - it didn't seem big enough to deserve even one. (Except maybe by comparison to the desert.) "Yeah, head south on Riley street after we get off."

Maria drove on in silence for a few more moments. "Okay, so where were we?"

"'Did the music'... and that's as far as you got," I quoted. "Remember where you were going to go with that??"

"No." Maria pouted cutely as she drove up the exit. "I dunno, can I call this off without conceding defeat? You shook me out of my *zone* back there."

"Okay, I guess, all right. Probably not a good idea for you to be trying to solve brain teasers and drive at the same time anyway," I teased her. Maria shot me a glare, but couldn't keep it up for long and broke into a wide smile.

"Keeping score is really important to you, isn't it?" I said as Maria turned onto Riley street.

"Well... huh." Maria got another one of her expressions. "I dunno, sometimes I guess. And what about to you??"

I thought about it for a second. "I'm not sure. Winning or losing can be important. Keeping the score is just a means to an end. Or something like that."

"Typical."

"What?"

"Oh, that it's all about winning and losing."

"I didn't say it was 'all about' that. I said that whether you win or you lose CAN be important."

"Well, here we are." Maria pulled into a parking lot.

I looked around. "How do you know? I didn't tell you where we were going?"

"It wasn't hard to figure out." Maria laughed softly. "Especially since I snuck a peek while you were looking at the map, after I missed the turn- off. Hondo train station. How does this fit into your big master plan??"

I grinned at her, took her hand as she shut off the gas, then opened my door. "You'll have to come with me to find out."

* * * * *

MAX:

The cell phone rang on the table three times, and both of us turned to look at it. After the third ring it stopped... or maybe in the middle of the third ring, I'm not sure. Isabel crossed over and looked at the caller ID.

"Michael," she confirmed. "That's the signal. He and Maria are in position. We'd better go rendezvous with our partners."

"Remember, you and Alex can't move too early," I told her. "God knows what Michael has planned, but he seemed quite insistent about that."

"I know, I know." Isabel leaned over to kiss me sweetly on the cheek, and smiled. "Have a nice romantic dinner with Liz, and remember your *poor* poor sister, mucking around in the woods with a crazy woman."

I just sighed a little, having had ten years to build up a resistance to Isabel's melodrama. "Tell Alex I said good luck." I sprinted out into the driveway to the Jeep,

I pulled in to park next to the back door of the Crashdown and when I poked my head in, Liz was waiting for me, looking sexy and adorable all at once in a simple green dress. We beat a quick retreat back out to my wheels. Liz's parents haven't been wild about me ever since that night we snuck off to find the orb - they know that we're dating again, but neither of us really wanted to have a scene with them tonight.

We were halfway to the French restaurant when Liz casually said, "Michael was right. We *are* being followed."

"What??"

"Do you see that dark gray sedan one lane over to the left, two cars back?"

I tried to pick it out in the rearview mirrors, but couldn't. "No."

"It pulled out a block down the street when you left the Crashdown, and it's been keeping with us ever since. Not very obviously, but it's been there. Lucky thing that I happened to notice it way back then, or I'd never have guessed."

I didn't say anything, but I could feel an anger starting to build inside of me. How dare these people intrude on our lives? What if they weren't going to just follow quietly? Maybe their orders included hurting Liz... She must have noticed how I was clenching the steering wheel.

"Relax," Liz's soft voice urged me. "Remember the plan - we're decoys, which means we can't do anything suspicious, which includes letting on that we've spotted them. They're not going to hurt anyone tonight."

I sighed. "As always, the voice of reason."

"Hey, somebody's gotta do it," Liz wise-cracked. "So, what say you and I go enjoy a fancy dinner that we really can't afford, indulge public displays of affection, and generally make a spectacle out of ourselves?" She had on the goofiest grin I'd ever seen.

"I hope they enjoy the show," I whispered as I pulled into a parking spot, then whipped off my seat belt and leaned over to steal a kiss.

Dinner was great. I had a leak soup, chicken strips in roquefort sauce, potatoes and spinach. Liz had onion tartlets, escargots... (yeah, snails, believe it or not...) and a side salad. We each sampled bits from the other's plates... and I have to admit that the snails tasted great.

'Making a spectacle out of ourselves' turned out to be harder than one would have imagined. I'd never been to "Le coin sombre" before. (We'd decided not to go to Chez Pierre, the other french-themed restaurant in town, because it had been a stop on Liz's valentine blind dream date, and that was still an awkward memory for both of us.)

'Le coin,' on the other hand... well, the food was great, but it seemed to be getting as much mileage as it could out of being a "romantic French restaurant"... if you know what I mean. There's something deeply uncomfortable about sitting in the middle of a restaurant full of couples... some of them in their twenties, thirties, or... (mental shudder,) even older, making out like... well, like horny teenagers.

And then, of course, there were the guys from the special unit, watching us. They tried to be unobtrusive about it, but after Liz called my attention to the car she saw on the way over here, it was impossible to miss them. For one thing... they *were* guys. About the only three people in the entire restaurant that didn't have dates, they were spread out in a loose circle around our table, and every so often one of them was watching us. Oh, and all three of them wearing the snazzy dark blue suits. I had to fight off the urge to wave hello at them.

"Umm..." Liz said as she took what looked like it would be her third-to- last spoonful of the escargots. "D'you think we should... dunno, I mean... kiss or something??"

I looked around, as if this would really give me any new information. The FBI guys and Liz and I weren't exactly the only ones not taking advantage of the dim lighting and sexy ambience, but we were in the distinct minority. And we didn't want it to be totally obvious to our Bureau friends that we'd just come here to lead them astray, did we?? "Umm... it seems like the thing to do," I muttered, feeling embarassed about our little audience.

Then Liz shoved her chair partway around the table, and leaned towards me, looking into my eyes, and suddenly all the rest of the bistro melted away, and as far as I knew it was just the two of us. I brought one hand gently to the back of Liz's neck and brought my face forward to meet hers, and soon enough our lips we were sharing the perfect kiss. Her lips were so soft and so fragrant, and her soft hair fell down and brushed my cheeks and my shoulders as we embraced, and...

Flash. Something vague, and amorphous... shapeless, and a human figure talking to it. To *them*. An orb changing hands... I didn't know if it was ours or Topolsky's, who was giving it or who was gettng it. Except... it was a girls' or a woman's hands giving, and a man or young man's hands taking. Topolsky handing over her orb to me, after we saved her?? And one last image... Isabel and Michael and me, there on the desert road, as children. When I was reaching out my hand to Michael, and he would be too scared to take it.

I only realized the experience was over when I heard Liz's voice whispering softly in my ear. "How was it for you, lover?"

I looked up and smiled at her. "Great. I'll tell you later."

"Me too." Was that her way of telling me that she'd had a flash too? I couldn't wait to hear what it might have been of.

We ordered dessert not long after that... cheesecake for me, raspberry sorbet for her. We got involved in talking about safe, ordinary things like school and our parents - things that it didn't matter if the FBI guys overheard us, and I was so engrossed that I didn't even notice until it was happening. Neither did Liz, apparently.

"This is a dangerous game you're playing, Parker." The words were voiced low, but not a whisper. We looked up, startled, to see Tess Harding standing only a few feet from our table, wearing a little black dress with halter straps. She continued to stare at Liz for a few seconds, then turned and walked out of 'Le Coin sombre' without another word. It might have been my imagination, but I think she was trying too hard not to look at the FBI agents.

MARIA:

"Okay..." I took a deep breath. "We've slipped aboard a freight train in the Hondo train station. Care to fill me in on how the heck this is part of a plan?"

Michael grinned in that annoying way. "This train is going past Roswell. Hopefully, it'll provide the barrier that Isabel and Alex need to get Topolsky alone."

I thought about that. "A problem and a question. Problem: these special unit agent seem the uber-be-prepared type. Maybe they have the train schedules memorized and wouldn't let Topolsky get out of arm's reach near a train track when a freight train is scheduled. Question: why are *we* here? This train could serve as a barrier just fine without us being aboard."

Michael smiled again. "The answer to that question," he pointed out smugly, "is the solution to the problem. We've snuck aboard to try to find some way to speed this train up by six minutes in arriving at Roswell. Hopefully that'll be enough to throw our schedule-happy friends off."

I thought about it. "Could work. Any idea how we're gonna speed this baby up that much?"

Michael paused a minute. "Not completely sure, no. I admit I had a notion of just pushing it ahead with my powers, but that doesn't seem to be working at all. Never really appreciated how heavy a train is."

I smiled - it wasn't often that Michael admitted he was capable of making a mistake. "Well, then the solution is up at the engine or nothing."

"Yeah, I'd figured that out too," Michael agreed, and led the way up the train. We had to crawl along the side of a basket car full of what seemed like hot ashes, a heart-jolting experience if I've ever had one. But soon we were inside another freight car, peering at the two train-operator guys in the engine through tiny peepholes which had been fashioned through Michael's molecular mojo.

"So, now what??" I asked aloud. "We've got to assume that that diesel motor has a fair bit more oomph that it isn't using, or we don't have a shot. How best to tap into it?"

Michael considered the question, then stretched out a hand towards the engine in a dramatic Czechoslovakian gesture. I waited for a good thirty seconds, but the results of his Herculean efforts didn't seem to be apparent. "What are you trying to do?" I asked in a soft whisper.

"Just wait," Spaceboy grunted. I waited. Just when I was going to give up on waiting again, the chief engineer hmmed at something on his control panel and adjusted a lever. The engine strained hard and our car started to pick up speed.

"Hey... whatd'you do that for Phil?" the assistant engineer asked, taking the words right out of my silent mouth.

"Take a look," Phil said, tapping that something on the panel. "We must be a minute and a half behind schedule."

The co-engineer looked where Phil was pointing, which must have been a clock. "That's impossible," he pointed out petulantly. "We were okay the last time I checked, and we were doing fifty before you gunned the engine. That can't have been five minutes ago -- more like three!"

"Check your watch, Andy." Andy did, but Michael had apparently taken care of that too. Andy looked none too convinced, but didn't speak again... until a few minutes later, when Phil cranked the engine to full. "Hey!"

"Well, what can I do?"

"I'm calling in," Andy declared, picking up a radio mike/speaker. "Central, this is two one three six nine. Can I get a confirm on the local time?"

"Copy that, three six nine, the time here in Las Vegas, New Mexico is..." At the last moment, the radio died in a shower of sparks. Andy yelped.

"You're right, something weird is going on here," Phil commented. "I'm going to slow down, maybe stop when we get to the outskirts of Roswell."

Thanks for the warning, buddy, I thought silently, as if I were really contributing here. Sure enough, by the time Phil actually tried pulling back on the engine lever, it was stuck fast and not budging an inch. So was the brake when Andy tried that.

"Is there some kind of emergency override on the engine?" I whispered to Michael in a sudden panic.

"Dunno," he muttered. "If you spot it, gimme a heads-up."

I scanned the engine compartment as well as I could from our limited vantage point. "Got it! High and to the right... Phil's going for it."

"Get back." I didn't understand why Michael was saying that, but I pushed away from the wall and stumbled away from it. As the train went over a small bump, the motion sent me sprawling. When I looked back up, Michael was looking through *my* peephole and making his czechoslovakian gesture. Oh, right. He probably couldn't see what he needed to from his position, so he needed to use mine. Can't use alien powers on something you don't know exactly where it is I guess.

"How're we doing?" I mumbled, picking myself back up and lurching forward unsteadily to Michael's peephole.

"Pretty good." Michael was right. As I'd guessed, from this position I couldn't get too good a look at the emergency override, but now Andy was trying to get to it, and he yelped in horror after touching something that was obviously incredibly hot.

"Uh-oh... look out." Since there was nothing much to be done in the engine, Phil was heading down into the rest of the train... presumably to look for the saboteurs that had hijacked his ride... us!! "Where do we hide?"

Michael turned around and scanned the compartment. "Up there." He pointed to a particular pile of metal boxes. I hurried over to it, but couldn't find any way to get started climbing. The first ledge was almost as high as I could reach with my hands above my head... I tried to pull myself up to it, but I had no leverage.

"Right here." Michael brought his hands together to give me a boost up. I scrambled up to the ledge, then reached back to help pull Michael up... he would never have asked for it, but he'd have had trouble with that first step by himself too. We both scrambled into a hidden tunnel behind some of the higher boxes, just as Phil climbed into the car. While he was poking around, I noticed Michael checking his watch.

"Got another appointment, spaceboy?" I whispered.

He snorted softly at me. "I'm not sure how fast we're going, but we should be getting near Roswell by now. Maybe even approaching the rendezvous point."

I nodded. "Should we get out? Take a closer look?" I pointed up to a trap door in the ceiling that was pretty near the highest peak of this mountain of metal boxes... that may have been why Michael chose it.

"Yeah. But that door is in plain sight, and the engineer looks like a stubborn cuss." Sure enough, he was still searching this car, and would spot us in a second if we went for the trap.

"Leave it to me." I picked up a screwdriver that was sitting nearby, judged the angles right, and tossed it across the freight car. Sure enough, Phil went for the diversion. "Go, go!!" From the direction I'd chucked it, Phil would *not* have a clear view of us going for the door. Michael isn't the only one who can be canny.

Soon enough, we were in the open air, just in time to see things play out. Isabel, Alex, and Miss Topolsky were skipping ahead of the train as it passed through the edge of Frazier woods. Topolsky's FBI handlers were stuck on the other side of the tracks, and Isabel waved discretely, making them fall down, (a neat trick in a moment of crisis, I had to admit.) And then the engine rushed between them.

"That's my cue," Michael muttered. He waved, and the brakes suddenly came on full... I struggled to keep from falling off the train at the sudden shift in momentum. Andy took the hint and shut the engine off, and now that worked too. The train started coasting to a stop, which would only increase the amount of time before the FBI guys could give chase. Our homeys (Alex, Iz, and Ms T,) were already high-tailing it deeper into the woods.

It was a few minutes before the train finally came to a stop, and Michael gave me a hand down the ladder on the side of the train. Without a word, he waved a hand in either direction -- into Frazier woods too, or back to where we could hopefully catch a ride into town. I led the way into the forest.

As we left the train behind and started following a footpath down into a small ravine, (me trying hard not to think of how hard it might be to find Isabel, Alex, and Topolsky in here and how likely it was thet the FBI guys would find us,) something fell into place. "He was a blindfold tightrope walker, right??"

I looked back, and Michael was blinking in confusion. "WHO was??"

"I'm talking about your mystery riddle," I explained. "'When the music stopped, he was doomed to die', right? 'He' was a blindfold tightrope walker, and the music was supposed to be a cue that it was safe to step off of the tightrope, that he had gotten all the way to the platform on the far side. But someone stopped the music too early, and so he fell to his death. Am I right??"

"Have you heard that before, and you're just remembering it now?" Michael asked.

"Actually, no. The answer just kinduv occured to me."

* * * * *

ISABEL:

"So, um..." I muttered as we hurried deeper into the woods, all too aware that the FBI-guys might be back on our trail by now. Alex pointed out a small, overgrown side path that led through a dark thicket, and I sighed and followed him through. "How are you doing??" It was weird to actually be face to face with Topolsky, so to speak. I'd dreamwalked her three times now since she'd come back to Roswell, but this was the first time I'd actually met her directly since last fall.

"Nicely executed with the diversion there," Topolsky mentioned with what sounded like professional appreciation. "What I can't figure out was how you managed to speed up the 4:20 freight train to Las Cruces by six minutes."

"Our friends have our ways," I said as mysteriously as I could. Michael hadn't even told me about the train, but I was sure that I had seen him and Maria as it came past. Certainly *I* didn't know what he could possibly have done to mess around with its schedule, but apparently they had done something. "Is the special unit giving you any trouble?"

"Haven't even talked to me since that time I met with your brother," Katy muttered, puffing a little as she followed me up a rise. "I'm getting nervous, though. Something's coming."

"We're still working on a way to get you out," I assured you. "Not quite sure what to do with you then, though. Springing you won't do a heck of a lot of good if we can't hide you someplace that Pierce and his cronies won't think to look."

"I was thinking that I give you the orb and hop on the next bus for Tijuana," Katy put in. "Not much that can go wrong with that plan."

Wait a second... what happened to waiting for the aliens with us? Then again, Max had told her that we didn't know whether to expect a mothership any time soon, so maybe Katy had changed her plans. Getting out of Roswell seemed like a smart thing for her. But I had hoped to have her experience on our side when it came time to the final showdown with the Special Unit... this Pierce wouldn't be forgetting about us anytime soon. And then...

"You disappear, and won't Pierce have every bus leaving Roswell monitored?" Alex pointed out softly.

"Hmmm.... Good point," Topolsky sighed. "I'll leave it up to your capable judgement. Don't think my brain is working too well these days, some of the time."

Which didn't help me feel any better about reason I had brought this stuff up, hinting at Katy to see if she had any ideas about a safe hiding place. Oh well.

"Ssshh!!" Alex said suddenly, turning around to face us with a finger to his lips. I stopped still and stayed quiet, listening, and Katy did too. Loud, tramping running footsteps were heading in our direction.

Alex looked around quickly. "In here," he whispered, pushing a shrub halfway aside on the edge of the path. "Hide under the brush." I hurried in, Katy following and Alex bringing up the rear, each of us trying to find as inconspicuous a hiding place as possible among the green growth.

I could only just see a figure dressed in black charge up the path, but he obviously wasn't searching to the sides, just trying to catch up with a quarry he still believed was in front of him. As his footsteps died away again, I turned to look at Alex questioningly.

"Not yet," he suggested. "This seems as good a place as any to lie low."

THUMP. Following the source of the sound, I eventually found the orb that Topolsky had set upon the ground, still holding it firmly in her hand. I guess the sound hadn't been that loud, I just felt the vibrations through the ground because I was so close to it. "Did you remember to bring yours this time??"

"Yes." Max had warned me that Topolsky had seemed offended by his failure to do that last time, so I'd been lugging the heavy little thing around in my purse. Quickly I brought it out. "Umm... how do you want to do this?"

"Do you know how to use them??" Katy asked warily, and I had to shake my head no. "Then I'll show you mine if you let me hold yours."

Sounded like a fair trade to me, all double entendre aside. We traded orbs, and I could immediately tell that there was indeed a difference between them. While the orb that Max and Liz had found in the desert gave off 'an alien dial tone,' as Max so quaintly put it -- an unmistakeable sense of the potential for communication... this one almost hummed with barely suppressed power. It wasn't a communicator, I was somehow sure of that. It was a weapon... or at the very least a potent tool. Which suggested that they weren't meant to be used together... or not jointly, at least. A matched set they almost undeniably were, but each had its specific purpose.

"Say, where did you get the stuff you told Michael about these orbs??" Alex asked softly. For a second I thought he was talking to me, but the question obviously made more sense addressed to Topolsky. "That they're communicators and only work when they're together??"

"I...." Topolsky's face twisted sideways slightly. "I don't remember. Did I really say that??"

"Yeah," I assured her. "Don't worry, it doesn't matter."

"Maybe we should get moving again," Alex suggested. I was only to happy to agree. Lying down in the underbrush is never anybody's idea of a good time.

"So..." I tried to think of another conversation of conversation as we switched the orbs back and put them away. "Where did you live before you came to Roswell the first time, Katy??"

"Maryland," Katy answered in a faraway voice. "I was a data processor in one of the FBI office complexes, taking agent training courses on the side. Then they tapped me for this mission - maybe because I took teacher's ed courses before joining the bureau. I'm still not really sure why I was picked. I thought it was my lucky break. But that mission ruined my life."

"Not for long," Alex muttered. "We'll get you your life back, don't worry."

"Thanks, Alex," she told him. "You were always so sweet." Katy shot me a side-long glance. "I guess that someone else finally clued into that, huh??"

Come again? Okay, try not to think about that too much right now... and wait, that reminded me. "Those career evaluations," I blurted out. "The ones you did when you were under cover as the guidance counselor... were they on the level??"

"What??" It took a little time for Katy to place my reference. "What do you mean, were they on the level??"

"The results... were they really backed up by some sort of authority or were you saying things trying to get us off balance??"

Topolsky turned and looked at me. "Of course they were 'on the level.' I chose a survey that I hoped might yield some deeper and more meaningful results than a typical career aptitude profile... and I was watching some of the results carefully. Yours, Michael's, Max's, Liz's, Maria's. Well, I was looking forward to Michael's, but he was cutting class again that week. But still... what I told you was the truth. And watching how each of you reacted to it... that told me other things."

I stayed silent, wondering how to reply to that, when suddenly I heard something. Footsteps moving closer to us again. Two sets of them, much slower than last time... as if someone was picking their way carefully or looking for something. They were coming from the way we had been going, and on an intercept course. I turned to Alex to see what he thought.

We were all about to dive for cover again when a soft voice called out "Blueberry muffins!!" Damnit, how long is that stupid phrase going to be a code word? (Or two code words, or whatever you call it.)

But it got the point across. We hurried up to rendezvous with Michael and Maria, and needlessly introduced them to Katy. By this time, it was starting to get dark.

"So, ummm... not meaning to sound rude, but is there anything else we need to cover?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah, something I wanted to ask Ms. T," Michael volunteered. "Alex, remember when we were talking about open code systems??"

"Don't push her," I whispered to Michael. "I don't think she's at her best, spy-wise."

"It can't hurt to ask," he growled back under his breath. "I was hoping you could think of an easier way to reach you without being found out by the special unit - one that doesn't depend on you being asleep. Something where the actual message is... well, you know. Out there in public, but the meaning is only known to you and us."

"Hmmm..." Topolsky thought. "Open communique. It could work... but I have to admit I don't have any notion, and I don't think we can afford to stay and work it out right now. If I don't turn up soon they're gonna call in backup to comb these woods."

"How do we do this, the same way as before?" Alex asked. "If you go alone to those guys who were following you, you think they'll take you home and leave us alone?"

"I'm sure of it," Katy agreed. "Anyone have any idea where they are?"

"We saw someone heading thataway," Maria said, pointing off in a particular direction.

"Then I'd better get going," Katy decided. "Good luck, and remember... get me out!!"

"We will," I assured her. "So... I guess we wait until she's been picked up, and then hike back to where we left Alex's car?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Gonna be a tight fit," Alex pointed out. "And where the heck did you leave the Jetta, Michael??"

"Hondo!!" Maria exclaimed, as if she was only now realizing that.

"Don't worry," Michael told her. "Max can drive us out there tomorrow afternoon to pick it up. We'll discuss strategies for getting Topolsky out."

"I wonder how Max and Liz's dinner went," I commented.

"Compared with ours, must have been a pretty dull time," Alex laughed.

To be continued...


	4. Part 2c

Section two: Liberation, confusion, and her (continued.)

Liz Parker's Diary:

This time we all met up at Michael's place. I was glad to hear that everyone was safe, and that they had managed to make contact with Topolsky, even though the Special Unit net around us seemed to be growing ever tighter and tighter. Michael's plan seemed nothing short of incredible... speeding up a TRAIN!! But between him and Maria, they had made it work.

The four of them were surprised and intrigued to hear about Tess' visit to the restaurant. A little bit of fear, too, though nobody exactly panicked.

"What did she say, exactly, Liz?" Isabel asked nervously.

I checked and rechecked my memory before I spoke. "'This is a dangerous game you're playing, Parker.' Just that. Eight words."

"A dangerous game," Alex repeated. "We were playing games with the special unit tonight... sending the two of you out in public as decoys, distracting and diverting them. Do you think she knew?"

"If she knows, the Unit probably does too," Michael pointed out. "Which suggests that maybe they're playing along... that maybe they *wanted* us to get some time alone with Topolsky... Isabel? Did you think to check her for listening devices?"

Iz blinked. "I was actually thinking of tracking devices, but her person was entirely free of electronic devices as far as I could tell."

"How did you check?" Maria asked. Isabel waved a hand mysteriously. "Oh right."

"I've been experimenting with that," Iz explained. "Scanning molecular structures."

"That sounds interesting," I pointed out. "What can you tell me about myself??" It didn't make much sense to take her word about Topolsky without testing this new power out.

"Are you sure you want to do this in front of the whole gang?" Isabel grinned evilly as she got up and sat on the coffee table in front of me.

I blinked. "Not really, but what the heck. Censor anything truly mortifying that you find out."

"Will do." Isabel waved vaguely. "One radio source... that'd be your cell phone I imagine. Something else in your left front jeans pocket..." (I'd changed out of my fancy duds after leaving the restaurant and before coming over to Michael's...) "Electronics and quartz crystal... a digital watch?" I showed it. "Why don't you have it on your wrist?"

"The strap irritates my skin," I explained, and Isabel returned to her scan.

"Nothing else electronic... let's see... You use some kind of leave-in conditioner on your hair with fruit extracts... little package of cookies in your shirt pocket... and -- oh, no, I'm *not* going to say anything about that."

I blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Trust me, NO-ONE wants me to mention this out loud. Probably you least of all."

I still wasn't sure what she was talking about, and then it hit me. Could she have been able to tell that it was almost my, em, 'time of the month'?? No real reason why not, I guess, there were certain changes to the body that went with it, the stuff we learned about in health class. Still, it was a very creepy feeling that Isabel could sense something that was so personal and private.

"Well, I think I'm satisfied," I mumbled once I'd regained my composure. I could feel a hot flush in my cheeks and hoped that none of the guys, in particular, had tumbled to what all of the fuss was about. "So... what next?" Nothing like a nice big change of subject.

"We have to go get the Jetta back tomorrow," Maria pointed out. "I have no idea what I'm gonna say about it if my Mom asks about it in the morning."

"You'll think of something," Michael told her unhelpfully.

"We need to spring Topolsky, and soon," Alex added. "Before she ends up on the Special Unit grill."

"And we need to figure out what Tess' role in this is," Isabel said. Quite a few people shot her looks for that. "What? She's obviously not leaving us alone, so we can't afford to leave her alone. If we can't leave her alone, we need to understand her - understand how she fits into this game of cat and mouse that we're playing with the Special Unit. Last fall, when Topolsky was around the first time, hiding from her never got us anywhere. But when Alex and Liz broke her cover, she wasn't a danger to us anymore."

"Until now," Max put in. Isabel glared at him. "Hey, I'm not saying she wished any of this on us. But it seems pretty clear that when Kathleen Topolsky left Roswell, she made a report to the Special Unit, willingly or not, and that report is a big part of the reason why we hav bigger worries now."

"He's right," Michael pointed out. "But that doesn't nullify Isabel's point, that we need to know more about Tess Harding."

That was about all for the 'Czechoslovakian business.' We listened to music, and Michael, Isabel, Alex, and Maria had some Mexican food delivered, since they hadn't gone out for a fancy dinner.

Oh - when Max was driving me home, we finally got a chance to compare flash notes about that first kiss we shared in the French restaurant. I told him about what I'd seen... of Max climbing a *huge* tree in Frazier woods when he was maybe eleven or twelve, and Michael smiling an entirely creepy and somewhat nasty-looking smile... and even the one of the two of us, in bed, and Max slowly taking off my top. And he told me about the ones he had - of a human figure talking with blobbish fuzzy aliens, the orb changing hands, and of he, Isabel and Michael at the side of the road just as the Evanses were pulling over. We talked a bit about them, but no real conclusions about what any of them mean yet.

Gotta polish up a bit of geometry homework before I go to bed. Back tomorrow.

* * * * *

Not much to report. School today was quiet, something of a relief. Apparently Isabel agreed to go to the Bandfest preview that Tess was bugging her about... first stage in her undercover work to figure out what part miss Harding plays in this little show, or something. I hope she knows what she's doing.

The four of us drove over to Hondo to retrieve the DeLuca family Jetta right after school... Max and I to drive back in the Jeep, and Michael and Maria for the Jetta. We played this fun and frustrating car game on the way over, with each person having to name a city somewhere in the country that starts with the same letter as the previous one ends on, without repeating. I kinduv expected to kick butt in something like that, but as it happened I ended up right after Micael in the play order, and he demonstrated not only a very good memory but a killer instinct for returning play to the letters that had aleady been played from frequently, so that I kept having to come up with yet one more city name that began with 'N', say, or whatever. As I said, fun and very frustrating.

Once the vehicle switch had been made, I found myself, of course, once more alone in a vehicle with Max. (Which I know was the plan all along, but somehow I hadn't realized that it might be awkward until it was.)

"One of us had probably better start talking about something," Max said with a nervous chuckle.

"Max, those aliens from your flash last night... you said they were all shapeless and erm... protean, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I saw," Max agreed, "really blobby, and I can only assume that they were aliens." He paused, guessing where I was driving at. "Are you wondering if those were... were my species, or whatever? Whether Michael, Isabel and I would look like that, if we only knew how to resume our 'natural form?'"

"Well, yeah, I guess I am wondering that," I admitted. "I can't help it."

"And if we were... would it change anything?"

"I think maybe it would have to," I whispered. "I don't want to think of myself as prejudiced, but I'm not sure I could relate to... to a being like that the way I relate to you. I mean... what about when I got the impulse to do --- this??" And I leaned over and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

"I guess I'd have to learn how to re-take human form for that," Max replied with a grin. "How about that, if I could assume human form to interact, but also knew how to be... different shapes. Would you be able to relate to that better?"

This was easier. "Yeah, I think so. I mean... I've always known that you're different, Max Evans. If you became a blob every now and then, I don't think that would really change anything much... as long as you're a man when you come to me."

Max smiled. "Okay, quitting this conversation while I'm ahead. Let's see... probably my turn, huh?" I nodded, and Max thought. "What do you think about this whole Tess situation? Any impressions??"

"She was freaking me out even before Isabel reported seeing her in Topolsky's dream," I said slowly, "but that was just because subconsciously I had figured out that she was hiding something from us." I paused.

"And now??" Max prompted.

"I dunno... but my intuition is telling me that she's not really a bad person. Not like the rest of these Special Unit people, I mean. She wants to help us, but maybe she isn't sure how."

Max laughed slightly. "First Kathleen Topolsky, and now Tess Harding. I think you just want to believe the best of people, Liz."

I smiled. "And where do you think we'd be right now if we hadn't taken a chance on Topolsky? Looks to me like that gamble is paying off."

"Not yet it isn't," Max sighed. We started talking about school and our parents after that.

* * * * *

ISABEL:

"Are you sure about this?" Alex called softly from the hall just outside my bedroom.

"Yeah, I think so. And you can come in - I'm dressed."

He came in, and his eyes grew wide. "Not much, you're not." I smiled a little bit. Tess had said to come 'dressed to rock', so I had gone through my dresser and found a few things that I'd bought last winter when I was trying to impress Jase Rontin. (And freak out my mom, that had been another motivation at the time.) I stood up and checked myself in the mirror... hair pinned up with stray wisps escaping here and there to make their way down my neck, low-cut black sleeveless spandex top, red silk miniskirt, and black boots. I turned to shake my head at Alex - I was showing some skin, yeah, but I wasn't indecent.

After shaking his head a bit to keep his eyes from bugging out, Alex got back to business, holding up a tiny little object between his thumb and forefinger. "Are you sure you want to do this??"

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'm not comfortable going in there all alone. This way, you'll be able to... I'm sorry, just how small is that thing?"

Alex passed it over, and I peered at it carefully, keeping it in the palm of my hand. It was about as long as a pencil eraser, and noticeably smaller in cross-section. "And this goes..." I waved at my head vaguely.

"Into your ear, yes." Alex pointed at his own ear helpfully. "It's entirely un-noticeable in there, and gives the needed proximity for the microspeaker. As well as theoretically allowing me to pick up your voice at a whisper or subvocal level."

For no particular reason, I realized that I had copied Alex's pointing motion. "Umm... one little question. When this is all done how do we get it back out??"

"Ummm..." Alex blushed a little. "There's this adhesive stuff you can put on a q-tip, and with some careful aiming you can use that to pull the transceiver back out. The less said about what happens when your aim is bad, the better." He grimaced.

I didn't need *that* mental picture. "Okay... should I let you do the honors?" I offered the gizmo back to him.

"Probably better if you do it," he told me, so I brought it up to my ear and poof!! It slipped inside so easily, I was afraid it would slide out if I tipped my head... but I tried and it didn't. Oh, that reminded me... I needed earrings, the look just didn't seem complete without them.

"What do you think, hoops or dangles??" I turned around to show the final choices to Alex... except he wasn't there. "Alex?"

"You don't need to shout like that," Alex's voice complained in my ear. "I was just thinking. Go with the hoops. Definitely."

Uh, okay. I put the hoop earrings on, and then set off to find Alex. As I had expected, he was sitting in the middle of the electronic equipment that he had set up in the upstairs den - headphones on, one hand on a bank of miniature dials, watching one of those funky green electrical wave readout screens.

"So, how're we doing, spanner?" I joked. "All systems condition green?

"Justa sec." I heard that one phrase both directly and through the earpiece, which was definitely weird. Then Alex took off the headphones, which I noticed had a miniature microphone boom about half an inch from the skin of his right cheek, right down to the corner of his mouth. "Okay, let's try the subvocals. Try to whisper something under your breath, as quietly as you can."

"I feel really stupid doing this," I mumbled softly.

"Hmm..." Alex cocked his head thoughtfully. "Come closer. And again."

I did, so I was almost wedged between the tables Alex had set his equipment up on. "I can almost make that out, but we can start from there," he decided with an encouraging smile. "Again, from back out in the hall?" He slipped the headphones on.

I tramped out of the room in my high heels, shaking the booty just a little to tease Alex, and repeated the mumble a third time, trying to keep my volume constantly. "I feel really stupid doing this."

"Don't worry, sweety, you're doing great," Alex's voice replied in my ear.

I blinked to myself. "You could really hear that? What did you hear me say?"

"'I feel really stupid doing this,'" Alex repeated. "It came through loud and clear. Let's try going quieter."

I sighed. (This was getting to at least be good practice in getting used to talking with Alex through my ear.) "I'm not sure I can *go* quieter, Alex!!"

"It's easy. Just close your mouth most of the way and try to keep all the sound inside. Okay??"

"I love you, Alex, and I hope this works," I subvocalized. Or tried to.

"I love you too," Alex replied. "In case you're curious, your side came out sounding like 'Iruv-yuulexx,' but I got the idea. Try it from inside."

I strutted confidently back in, wedged myself into position next to Alex, and repeated. (He had taken the headphones back off as I entered, of course.) "Incredible! I could hardly even tell that you were doing anything, and I knew what to look for."

"Good thing too, because I need to motor if I'm going to make my meet with mole-girl..." I picked up my purse, then had a sudden thought. "How'm I gonna get to the station?! Max and Liz aren't back with the Jeep yet, and my mom's got her car."

"Take mine," Alex said, stretching out to hand me some car keys. "I'm not gonna be going anywhere for a little while, am I?" He laughed softly.

"Uhh... okay, I guess." I shrugged and took the keys. "Just curious, Alex... what are you gonna say to my dad if he comes in and finds you here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Alex grinned. "Working on the science project I've been assigned to with Max." He waved around at his gear... I noticed for the first time that there was a palm-pilot sitting next to his left hand, plugged into the antenna machine. I couldn't help but smile too.

"Yeah, that should work. By the way... thanks, Alex." I blew him a kiss across the table.

Alex beamed "Trust me, the pleasure's mine."

I hurried down the stairs, out the front door, found Alex's car and got in. Once the Taurus and I were underway, I started to get a funny feeling. "Alex, are you there??"

"Yeah, I'm here," the answering voice came in my head.

"I kinda thought you'd have piped up on your own by now."

"I didn't want to bother you when you were running late," he said, and I laughed.

"If you were physically inside this car, and giving me the silent treatment like that, it'd be rude, wouldn't it?" I pointed out.

"Well, you were giving me the silent treatment too!" Alex pointed out.

"I wasn't sure you had your headphones on, and I would have felt stupid talking with no-one on the line. But you had to know I had my earpiece in." Alex didn't answer that, which I took as confirmation of the irrefutability of my point.

"So..." I continued as I drove, not wanting to let the conversation die out. (It also occured to me that this was a good test to make sure that the earpiece really would work all the way to the radio station... if the range would be too much for it, I'd certainly rather find out along the way rather than when I'm face to face with Tess Harding.) "How did you get so into all this spy-gadget gizmo stuff, Alex??"

"I dunno." Pause. "I guess it started before we moved to Roswell... my cousin Davis would come over with kits that he'd bought at the electronics store, and we'd make a battery powered speaker, or an LED set that would spell out my name or something."

"And you were what, six years old back then?" I wasn't sure exactly when Alex's family had moved to Roswell, but since he'd been friends with Liz and Maria for so long I knew it had to be a while back.

"Seven or eight. Davis was six years older than me, so he was in his early teens."

"I've never heard you mention a cousin before. Have you talked to him recently?"

It was the wrong thing to ask. There was silence for long enough that I was wondering if I was out of range after all, and then Alex's voice again. "He died. About four years ago. Car accident."

"Oh, man." I didn't know what else to say.

But Alex was already moving the conversation along, probably even less eager than I to linger over that unfortunate memory. "A few years ago, I stumbled upon the high-tech clearinghouses that were popping up on the internet. It's amazing the compactness of stuff you can get if you know who to send the right instant message to, to get the wheels moving." He laughed.

I almost drove right by the station, but caught myself in time and snapped up what seemed like the last parking spot. "Stand by. I'm going in."

* * * * *

"Isabel!!" Tess called at me over the hubbub of rowdy fans waiting for the main event. "I'm so glad you could make it!"

"I told you I would, didn't I?" I yelled back, not *too* loud. Tess had taken the excuse to dress up a bit on the trashy side too, apparently. Sheer, sky-blue blouse that wasn't short enough to cover more than a bit of her stomach and see-through enough to show her bra in any event, tight dark blue leather pants, and strappy heels to match. Her curly blonde hair was puffed out slightly more than usual, so it hovered like a cloud around the back of her hair and her neck, and she was wearing pretty sapphire earings that matched the rest of her outfit and drew attention to the color of her eyes.

Almost instinctively I let my new alien sense probe her, and almost stiffened in shock. "Oh, shit."

"What's wrong?" Tess and Alex asked almost in unison, an unnerving effect.

"Umm..." I focused on Tess first and tried to come up with an excuse. "Umm... need to use the bathroom. Do you..."

"I saw a sign pointing down that way," Tess pointed back the way I had entered and left. "Hurry. They may be starting any minute!!"

"I will," I assured her, and as soon as I had left her vicinity I subvocalized. "Lx?!"

"I couldn't quite get that," Alex told me regretfully, "Too much background noise."

I switched to mumble mode. "Tess is wired too."

Gasp from Alex. "Are you sure??"

"Pretty sure. Two-piece system. There's a concealed network of microphones in her bra, and a transmitter. Her right earring includes a receiver relay, and the speaker seems to be inside her head... either it's something that she's keeping up in the very corner of her mouth or it's been surgically implanted into her jaw."

"Nice system," Alex commented. "So, what's the problem? Be careful to watch what you say around her... which you were going to do anyway, right?"

"What if she, or the people working with her, can pick up on our frequency??"

"I doubt that," he said reassuringly. I was loitering around in the hall near the washrooms sign right now, since I didn't really need to go. "I've got a decent set of scramblers and frequency shifters in play in that little mini-unit."

I took a relaxing breath. "And I assume there'd be no easy way to do the reverse, to find out what the people at the other end of Tess' connection are telling her??"

"Well, not from my end," Alex admitted. "If you can somehow... tap into the radio waves with your power, it's possible. Depending on the kinds of safeguards they've bothered to use. And how well your powers can work. They've probably got much more expensive equipment than we do, but we've got an advantage here - you can monitor her equipment while it's in use and see how it's working. In fact, maybe you should forget about the radio waves and try to 'sense' the sound waves coming out of her hidden speaker."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I had to protest. "Thanks for the votes of confidence, but I have no clue if I can do *any* of that. Detecting molecular clusters and transmission sources is one thing, tuning in on waves of any kind..."

"Watch your volume," Alex interrupted. I guess I had been whispering a little loudly. "I know there's no guarantee, I just wanted to suggest things you might try. So... maybe you should get back in there."

"Right." Inside the large room that had been hastily converted into a small performance hall, the energy levels were even higher than when I had first arrived. "Isabel, I'd like you to meet my Dad," Tess said, cornering me as soon as I got in. "Isabel Evans, Tony Harding, my father. Dad, this is Isabel."

I took a close look, remembering that Topolsky had said Tess' dad, or a man who could be playing the role of her father, was also involved in the same special unit plot.

My first thought, I have to admit, was 'Hoo, daddy!!' Tony was tall, undeniably handsome with a charming smile, short blond hair, and a strong figure hidden under his casual clothes. If he was really old enough to have a daughter my age, then 'well-preserved' was an understatement. Not that I was interested or anything, but he could easily have passed for thirty and I'm only hu-- well, I guess I'm not really, so never mind. The point is, still capable of appreciating a good-looking guy at any age.

Okay, this was getting to be less recon than barely disguised staring. "Umm... nice to meet you, Mister Harding!" I reached out to shake his hand. "What brings you and Tess to Roswell right now, anyway?" Yeah, that's a good question. Even if his answer is just a cover, it gives us a place to start looking.

"An incredible opportunity," Mister Harding said mysteriously, in a rich tenor voice.

"Dad's going to be the manager of Terahertz," Tess filled in. She must have caught my blank expression. "The electronic gaming center? C'mon, you must have seen all the construction, they've been working on the site since February. Diego street??"

"Umm... I never really asked what it was about," I admitted. "So... we're talking about a video arcade, right?"

"A state-of-the-art premium video arcade, yes," Harding agreed with a smile.

"By the time Dad's done with Terahertz, kids will be coming to Roswell from all across New Mexico and the west half of Texas just to play," Tess bragged.

"The center is one of the sponsors of the Bandzfest," Harding said, shooting a glance at his excitable daughter. "That's how I got the three of us in here."

"Umm... cool," I managed. Never been very much of a gaming fan; I was wondering how this 'Terahertz center' fit in with the Special unit's plans in Roswell.

Just then, on some unspoken cue, the din quietened to a restless hubbub. "Hi!!" a twentysomething woman called from a makeshift stage at the front of the room. "I'm rockin' Rena..." scattered cheers from those who were so inclined. "And we all know why we're here, right!?" Deafening yells resulted.

"It's my pleasure to introduce the final act and celebrity MC's of Roswell Bandzfest... performing a special sneak peek for us tonight..." More cheers were starting to gather as a curtain lifted up behind Rena. "RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS!!!"

The volume in that room quickly became deafening.

To be continued...


	5. Part 2d

MICHAEL:

"Okay, you can breathe again," I told her as we approached the Roswell City Limits sign. "Almost there. Do we have to drop the car off as soon as we get back?"

Maria shot a not-too-friendly look over at me. "Well, since my mom's been without her ride all day, yeah, I think it's the thing to do. She's got places she needs to go."

"Oh," I muttered, a little bit punctured. "Okay. Well, do you want to hang out on foot a little, then?"

Another look, this one a little intrigued, maybe. "What kind of hanging out did you have in mind??"

"I dunno," I groaned. Somehow Maria always seemed to make the simplest things difficult. "Neither of have to work tonight. I've got no plans, and I don't really feel like going back to my crummy little apartment." Another sigh. "Don't really feel like hanging out at your place or the Crash either, come to that. Maybe go for a big long walk??"

Maria looked searchingly into my face while the Jetta was stuck at a stoplight. "What?"

The light went green, and she turned left. While still facing away from me, she obseved "You know, the men in black are not going to catch you tonight if you don't keep on the move, one step ahead of them."

"It's not that," I snapped, even though a funny feeling deep inside of me wondered if that could be a part of it. When did Maria suddenly get insightful about the demons I did my best to keep locked away?? "Humor me. You wanna go for a walk?"

She smiled a little bit, and turned onto the street her mom's house was on. "Anything for you, spaceboy."

She parked in the driveway, and the keys to the Jetta were handed over to Ms. Amy DeLuca with all due ceremony, excuses, and apologetic looks from yours truly. (Maria told her mom that the whole thing was all my fault, which I guess it was. And in any event, I guess I didn't really mind being made into a scapegoat - I wasn't the one who had to live with her for another two years.)

But soon enough all of that was over, and then Maria and I were walking away, side by side down Maple street. Not holding hands or something sappy like that, because it wasn't that kinda walk, but I knew that I was glad it was Maria who I was with, and I hoped she felt the same way too. And maybe later if there was some touching, that would be okay... to be honest I was having trouble understanding how *any* contact with Maria, even just my hand to hers, could be 'sappy.' Was this girl starting to get to me? Was I losing my edge??

"So... we're not heading anywhere in particular," Maria reiterated. Oh, boy. Short attention-span girl strikes again. Maria was starting to get bored. This could lead to no good.

"No," I admitted, trying to think of something to divert her.

"We're just walking?"

"We can talk or play a game or something as we go," I suggested. "Your mystery riddle thing from yesterday?"

"Nah... I think I'll quit that one while I'm ahead," she sighed. "Straight twenty questions?"

"What do you mean, 'while you're ahead??'" I demanded.

"Well, you took twenty-something questions to get yours yesterday," she said. "I asked like five questions or something before we got to the train station, and then the next guess I made after that was exactly right. I whomped your butt!"

"If we go only by questions," I argued back. "You took much more time total than I did. And I'm still not convinced that you didn't suddenly remember that you'd already played that riddle."

"Michael," Maria sighed, and then took a pause. "Look, we can probably spend an hour or so arguing about this, but that's not my idea of fun. Twenty questions? Going twce."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Okay. Just to be clear, the argument has only been postponed to a later time - like the next time I hear you say you won that game. Do you want to be the asker or the answerer for twenty questions??"

She considered that for a second. "I'll go asker first this time, I guess. Pick your secret. Remember, it has to be an animal, vegetable, or mineral."

I looked at her. "According to whom?"

"House rules, mister."

I looked around as if I needed to double-check what I was about to say. "Hate to break it to you, babe, but we're not in a house."

"Figure of speech, Guerin," she explained. "I suggested this game, so I get to pick house rules." She pouted, just a cute little. "Humor me."

I sighed. Never could resist the pout. "Okay, let's see. Hmm..." I held the pause for a few seconds longer than really necessary. "Got one. Go ahead."

Maria considered her plan of attack. "Is it bigger than the ever-cliche breadbox?"

"No." Not by a long shot.

"Humm. Is it a mineral?"

"No, it is not."

"Is it... taller than it is wide?"

"A third time I tell you, no. Seventeen guesses left."

"Is it animal?" Maria sighed.

"Why yes it is."

"Do people... american people... keep it as a pet?"

"No, no, no." I smiled slightly to myself. Fifteen left.

"Is it normally black?"

Um. Hesitation is the path to defeat in twenty questions. "Yes."

Maria pondered a while, but I guess hesitation doesn't matter as much when you're on that side of the question. We swung around onto Union, and I realized suddenly that the sun had finished setting and the twilight was starting to close in. "Is it an insect??" Maria gave a little shudder of distaste at the sheer prospect.

"Nope."

"A vertebrate?? You *do* know what a vertebrate is, right??"

"It is," I informed her frostily. "I'm not a total idiot, you don't have to worry every time you use some sixty-cent word or whatever. It has a segmented backbone made up out of interlocking segments. That's a vertebrate."

"Does it have fur??" "Nope." Maria considered that for a bit. "Is it a bird??"

"No it is not a bird, and that leaves you with ten questions left. How ya feeling??" I grinned -- I had been lucky, and she hadn't really made that much progress. At least, I didn't think so - it could be hard to tell. With twenty questions, but more importantly - it could be hard to tell with Maria.

"Pretty confident, Guerin," she muttered, as if to underscore my uncertainty. She considered her next question for a long moment again. "Does it spend much time in the water??"

"No."

"Is it a reptile?"

"Yes."

"Can you find it near Roswell?" "Yes" This was starting to look not so good. "Seven questions left," I muttered, without much hope that it would psych her out.

"Is it active at night??"

"Yep."

"Does it eat meat?"

"Um -- yeah."

"Does it feed on insects??"

"Isabel!!"

Maria glared at me and I could tell that she was about to complain that that wasn't a yes or no answer, but I pointed up at the street and she saw Isabel and Tess Harding coming the other way, both dressed up really sleazy. I guess the special performance at the radio station had finished. Isabel didn't seem to have spotted us yet. "Yes, it feeds on insects," I muttered to Maria as I walked up to them.

"Michael, hi!!" Tess called out.

"Hey, Tess, hey, Isabel."

"A western banded gecko!!" Maria exclaimed.

Isabel and Tess stared at her. "Where??" Isabel asked somewhat doubtfully.

"I - I wasn't pointing one out," Maria explained. "Michael and I had been playing twenty questions, and that's my guess. Is it a western banded gecko, Michael??"

Big sigh. "Yes, it is."

"That's guessed in seventeen, then, and I didn't want to forget about it and let you come up with some excuse that I'd had too much time to think about it," Maria pointed out. "Nice to see you again, Tess." You might almost miss the fact that Maria was lying through her teeth.

Certainly Tess Harding seemed to miss it. "Always a blast, Maria." She was smiling broadly.

"I met Tess' *father* down at the radio station," Isabel mentioned with a peculiar emphasis. "He's the one who scored us the tickets." Ah, right, Tess' dad was supposedly in on the special unit thing too. "Quite a guy. He's going to be running this fancy video arcade down on Diego street, have you heard about it??"

"Oh, yeah, Terahertz," I had heard about it, heard a lot about it in fact, though of course I didn't know about the connection to Mister Harding until just now. "Been meaning to check out the grand opening."

"I think we should definitely check it out," Isabel said. "Once it's opened, of course." Ahh, got that. Isabel's not much for great and sublime subtlety, but hopefully Tess wasn't catching on, quite.

"Well, if we're going to finish our chocolate sodas before I have to head home, we'd better get moving again," Tess said. "Do you guys want to join us?"

"No, no, I think we're headed the other way," Maria reminded her. "But it was great running into you!!"

"You sure??" Isabel asked.

"Yeah, I've got to give Michael his laughable chance to beat seventeen questions, remember?" Maria pointed out. Isabel and Tess passed by and waved to us as they moved off. "Okay, I've got a good one. Ask away."

I thought just a second. "Is it a vegetable."

"Grr, yes." Come to think of it, it was pretty remarkable how Maria zeroed in on exactly the right thing at the end there. She does seem to have a very spooky intuition about her sometimes. "Is it a tree?"

"No."

* * * * *

ALEX:

I skulked carefully through the parking lot - nearly deserted though the brightness of morning was now underway. Where to now?? Ah yes - there was a narrow space between those two portables that would be a perfect hiding place.

Obviously I wasn't the only one who thought so. A figure in a dark trenchcoat was crouched in the darkness, watching the building not far away, and even though I thought I was moving very quietly, he spun around as I approached and hissed "Don't move a mus-- Alex?!" It was Michael. "What are you doing here??"

"Probably the same thing you are," I muttered quietly. "Following up on Isabel's lead, spying on what's going on at the Terahertz building and maybe breaking inside if I can manage it. I guess you figured out that Isabel was suspicious when she ran and Tess ran into you and Maria last night??"

Michael's eyes narrowed as he half-turned back and put his rear against one of the portable walls. "How did you know about that? Did Iz say so??"

"Actually, I was listening at the time," I explained. "Isabel wanted to go in wired to the meeting with Tess at the radio station. Apparently, so did Tess."

Michael considered that. "I hope whoever was listening on Tess' side didn't realize that she was trying to drop us a hint about this place, or there might be somebody waiting for us."

"Yeah, I thought of that too," I mentioned, "but everything seems really quiet - not fake quiet, just quiet. Do you want to try and get a closer look?"

"Sure," Michael grunted, and we crept out of the shelter of the portable, taking what cover the scattered few cars offered.

"What's Alex doing here??"

Michael and I whirled to identify the new arrival. Liz Parker.

"What are *you* doing here??" Michael hissed, taking the words out of my mouth. "For that matter, why aren't you asking what I'm doing here?"

"Maria called me to say that you'd probably be 'casing the joint', and that I should tag along to make sure you don't get into trouble," Liz explained. "She'd have come herself, but her mom would go nuclear if she didn't catch up on her chores this morning."

"Alex had the same idea as me," Michael explained.

"Ah," Liz nodded. "I saw you watching from here, and then went on a circuit around the premises. Nothing much seems to be doing out here. Can we go home or do we have to do anything more??"

"I want to at least try to make it inside," I explained. "If anyone catches us, we're just curious kids trying to sneak a peek before the grand opening."

"If anyone but special unit personnel catch us," Liz countered. "*They* would make sure to identify us, and all of us are already on a suspects list - remember what Topolsky said."

"Well, I can take care of that, at least partly," Michael said. "Wallets please." Liz and I handed over our IDs, and Michael quickly used his molecular-manipulation routine on our driver's licenses and other important cards, changing our names and other personal info. Then he did himself.

"Okay," Liz mumbled, only partly mollified. "Is there any way I can convince you guys that sneaking into that building is still an express ticket to a major headache? I mean, there's probably a super-sophisticated security system and everything."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that that's not installed yet," Michael told her.

"Oh, yeah? And how would you know??"

"Because I saw the security system, or at least the guts of it, sitting in a big truck, on my way in." That shut Liz up.

"Let's go," I said.

Michael used his powers to open the back door and let us in. Sure enough, the secuity system was very obviously missing, though none of us let down our guards, still aware that this could be some sort of subtle trap. No danger signs presented themselves though. We crept through the gaming floor, filled with all kinds of state-of-the-art arcade booths and interactive stations, none of them yet hooked up to power. The snack bars. The ticket office.

"Hey, where do you suppose a staircase like this would lead to?" Michael whispered with a fierce grin on his face. We crept downwards and carefully opened the door.

"Jack pot," Liz muttered to herself. The first room was full of high-tech electronics and computer gear - security cameras and voice pickups that seemed to tie into places all over town, especially the school. They had a camera in the front room of the Crashdown, to all of our surprise, especially Liz's. Some of the equipment had very obvious FBI logos on it, even.

Suddenly, we heard sounds at the other door leading into this room, and hurried back to the stairway, hoping that we hadn't obviously disturbed anything. "We sure about this?" once voice could plainly be heard as we waited down there.

"One hundred percent. All necessary approvals have been countersigned."

"It doesn't make any sense!"

"It makes perfect sense!! That bitch has been *fucking* with us, and when she fucks with us, she fucks with Pierce. We wait until tonight just in case Topolsky gives us a shot at the kids, and if not, at midnight, we take her back in. Pierce wants to liquidate her himself."

That was enough. We ran, and we didn't stop running until we were out of the building again, through the parking lot, and on the other side of the portables. After a quick stop to catch his breath, Michael hurried us on until we got to his apartment. Nobody said a word.

We stayed silent as Michael turned the place upside down, using his powers slightly but relying more on sheer physical effort to check for watching or listening devices. Finally he was done. The search hadn't turned up anything.

"Bring everybody in," he barked. "If Maria can't get here immediately, leave word that she's to come as soon as she can."

I nodded. "We're going to have to spring Topolsky today, aren't we??"

* * * * *

"Okay, we have to be missing the obvious," Michael muttered. Max and Isabel had been called over to his apartment, and Maria had been given the message. We'd been going over strategy for over an hour - or, perhaps more accurate: We'd been trying to come up with a plan, and failing, for over an hour. "Is there any way we could just go into the apartment building and take her out??"

Everyone stared at him like he was crazy. "No, I think that would probably lead to some of us dying, or Topolsky dying, or both of the above," Isabel said slowly.

"Maybe a little *too* obvious," Michael muttered unapologetically.

"Okay, come on, let's break it down," Liz muttered. "How to get Topolsky away from the special unit is one problem. Where to put her where they won't find her again is another. And how to get her from point A to point B might be a third, depending."

"Okay, yeah, let's think about the far end for a minute," Max agreed. "The Crashdown is out - the school, any of our houses, here at Michael's apartment. What's left??"

There was a long pause. "Maybe we're worrying about this too hard," I muttered. "Maybe we should take a break?? Get something to eat and drink, or something??"

People started to consider this. "Well, the cupboards are pretty much bare here," Michael grumped. "Sorry, had to scrounge up to pay the rent and didn't expect having to host a war council."

"We could order in," Isabel suggested in.

"Works for me." Soon enough, a huge batch of Tex-Mex and sodas was on its way from a local delivery place, and Liz was searching through Michael's kitchen for clean plates and utensils.

"There has to be *someplace* that we can hide Kathleen away," Isabel said as she drizzled tobasco all over her empanada. "It's nagging at me - somewhere our adventures this year has taken us, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Atherton's place??" Max wondered aloud. "There's a lot of marks against that one - pretty damn far away, across a state line, and I *think* the Special Unit knows where it is and that we've been there. Topolsky was following us herself - she's probably the one who took out Valenti. That's the explanation for how all of Valenti's papers got stolen practically the first time we left them alone."

"Yeah, it's not that," Isabel muttered.

"Hmm, what else??" I thought about that. "The UFO center's a no - Milton would have way too many questions of course." I thought about everything that I'd seen and that I'd been told, and absent-mindedly took a bite of a mild burrito. "That radio tower where you guys found the first orb??"

"No, there's nowhere nearby for shelter," Liz decided. "Unless there's a native camp nearby..."

"THAT'S IT!!" Isabel exclaimed. "Not the radio tower. The cave!!" Michael's mouth dropped open. "Up in the Meskaliko reservation, where River Dog showed us the map. There's no way the Unit could know about it."

"And that was where Nacero hid out after the Meskaliko tribe was convinced that he was a demon," Max agreed. "It fits. Except for..."

"Nacero," Michael announced flatly. "HE knows where it is. He left us the message there, not long ago. What if he isn't wild about Topolsky - who's still special unit herself, technically - taking over his hideout."

A long pause. "We may have to take that chance," Isabel muttered under her breath. "We've promised to keep Topolsky safe from the special unit - who are the ones we *know* want to kill her. If the cave is our best shot to protect her from them... well, we're guessing about what Nacero's reactions could be anyway."

"Okay, so we'll pencil that in as our hideout of choice, pending any better revelation??" I said.

"Nacero - I wonder what he's up to," Max muttered speculatively. "We haven't gotten any clue from him since the woods sighting. We still really don't know what he's like, or what he wants."

"Except that he doesn't seem to have any problem with killing people," Liz added. Finding out about the death of Sheila Hubble had been hard on her, I know. Maybe partly because when we'd found the newspaper account, Everett Hubble's wife looked a little bit like her - pretty, short, dark hair. It might have been all too easy to see herself in the shoes of that young woman from a long past generation - mysteriously killed by an alien handprint instead of saved by one.

"Okay, come on, let's clean up here," Michael announced. "We've only got one side of this solved, still. We have at least an idea of where to take Topolsky. How do we get her out??"

"Try the same trick you set up so that we could talk to her alone?" Isabel suggested.

"I think they'll be watching for trains this time," Michael shot back.

"I didn't mean a train specifically. Just - some kind of barrier, I dunno..." Her face scrunched up in thought. "Maybe nothing, I dunno."

Another awkward silence. "Yeah, I know, I know," Michael grumped, "maybe I should have saved the train trick for when we knew where to take Miz T."

"No-one's thinking that," I said. "It was a good plan, Michael. You couldn't have known."

"Mmmm." Michael looked around, and seemed to realize that there were only four of us around his rickety old excuse for a coffee table. "Who... Liz??"

"Oh, sorry, Michael," She was standing at the window, and looking out. "I had gone to throw my disposables out, and I guess I got caught up in looking at the Bandzfest stuff. They're just about finished setting everything up. I guess we're not gonna get to go after all, huh??"

The realization hit us like a wave of water. "Of course!!!" Michael muttered under his breath. "How did we manage to miss that??"

"All kinds of crowds - plenty of diversions..." Isabel muttered.

"Against which your typical FBI agent will stand out like a sore thumb," I agreed. "Somehow we'll be able to arrange an opportunity for Kathleen Topolsky to disappear."

"The only problem is -- how do we get her there??" Max asked.

"Can you dreamwalk her??" Michael asked Isabel instantly.

"Umm..." Isabel shook her head, then steadied herself. "I can try, but I've gotten to know her schedule pretty well. She won't be asleep - she'll have gotten up by now, and won't be going to bed until too late."

"Open code!!" Liz blurted out, and we all turned to look at her. "We find somebody, pretend to be helpers with the fair, give them a bunch of Bandzfest flyers and pay them to plaster them all over Topolsky's building - on every door and opposite every door, and to make a bunch of noise and attract attention to it. The FBI watching the building won't realize that it isn't real publicity for the testival, but I think Kathleen will - since you gave her the hint to expect an open code message."

Michael and Max shared a glance. "Okay - get on that..." Max agreed, and suddenly a knock rang out on the door. Every one of us froze, and I was sure for a second that it was the Special Unit come to take us away - though it didn't really seem like them to knock.

But Michael recovered his composure, and went to check through the peephole, and sure enough it was just Maria. We caught her up to speed as quickly as we could.

"Okay, what can I do to help??"

"I'd like you to stay here," Michael told her. "As a contact point where anybody can check in in case of a problem, and to make sure that the Orb's okay. Can you do that for me?"

Maria looked a little disappointed, but she nodded. "Glad to be part of the team."

* * * * *

Objective:

From the balcony above, he looked down at the apartment. He was not using any power to tap into its premises, though he could have, but he might have been detected in the process. These replacements were becoming more adept in the ways of the other side.

However, any form that the Stranger assumed had senses far beyond the 'human' norm - he had learned how to do that long ago, and he could hear some of what had transpired within. He couldn't be sure if it was the limits of his super-hearing of the limits of his command of the human language that kept him from understanding the whole, but that didn't matter. He knew enough.

Let the replacements and their human friends play games with the human hunters, and the human woman who had turned her back on the hunters, if they wished. It didn't matter. None of that mattered.

These foolish little children, the ones who had been conceived of to remedy the inadequacies of the original Stranger, could not be allowed to succeed where he had failed. He couldn't let them speak with the Parents.

And, fortunately, he had a plan to prevent that.

As the stranger turned to climb up the fire escape, he felt a nagging presence in his vicinity. No, not in his physical vicinity -- inside himself, inside his awareness. He paused, trying to identify it. He couldn't do that, but he was able to ascertain that it did not originate from the replacements - not an attempt by them to monitor him, as he had refrained from monitoring them. He shrugged it off.

As he reached the roof, he found a small utility closet, and used his powers to unlcok it and step inside. Light flashed as he reconfigured his shell, from the indian man he often appeared as to be inconspicuous. He stepped outside and smiled.

Not even the replacements would see through his impersonation of one of their number.

To be continued...


	6. Part 2e

MAX:

I watched carefully from my hideout, hidden behind the brush and shrubbery along the side of Montana drive. This was the only obvious route from Topolsky's place to the Bandzfest grounds, although Alex was watching on West eighth. I'd been waiting here for almost half an hour, and...

Ohh, was that... yes, our prodigal guidance counselor indeed. She had taken some care to get dressed up neatly, I noticed, her straight light hair undisguised by any wig, wearing blue jeans, sneakers, and what seemed to be a tie-dye T-shirt. (Don't judge her too harshly, she grew up in a different era, I reminded myself. I mean, she probably even *remembers* the seventies!)

It wasn't hard, either, to notice the agents that were trailing her - they were a fair distance down the street, but that was the only discreet thing about them. Just like at the restaurant - fairly tall guys, slightly beefy, wearing those ridiculous dark blue suits. Two of them. I shrank back a little further out of sight, and then a thought occured to me. Why not a little more diversion??

So, as Topolsky was passing by on the other side of the street, I stepped out into full view, pointing ahead and to the side, towards the Fest grounds proper, even though they were unmistakeable just from following the rest of the people flowing in. Topolsky nodded just a little bit.

After a second or two, the agents noticed me. Now was the moment of truth. Would they go for me instead?? I doubted it - watching Kathleen was their objective, and they weren't sure about me yet. Plus, there was the fact that Liz and I had obviously gone out to dinner the night before last to lead other agents like them on a diversion. Still, if even one of them had moved in my direction, I was going to lead him or them calmly away for about a block or two and then run like hell.

Fortunately, it didn't come to that. They were scared of me, I could tell it in their eyes, and did their best to ignore me, though I was sure that the fact of my presence never left their minds. Well, instilling a little fear was good. It could help us out.

Once the two of them had followed Topolsky down the street, I brought up the rear myself, staying out of sight - not really seeing any of them, but knowing the way that they must have gone. As I made my way through the gate into the fest grounds Michael appeared out of nowhere and stepped up to me. "Isabel's watching blue suit number two and has what she describes as a 'sensor lock' on Kathleen's palmPilot. Liz has gone to fetch Whitman in. Did they spot you??"

"Um, yeah -- I stepped out," I mumbled to him. Michael shot a hostile look sidelong at me.

"Did you just lose your mind, Maximegallon??"

"Relax," I told him, shaking my head. Michael's always had fun with nicknames for me, but that one seemed unusually extravagant... was it, just possibly, a sign that he was nervous? "It went just fine - they practically freaked out at the sight of me. Didn't give me any trouble - it was like they were..." I struggled for an apt comparison. "Two frightened monkeys, trying to lope along and pretend that they don't see the lion standing there."

"Well, don't worry that these damn dirty apes are dangerous," Michael quipped. "And they're hot on the trail of a doe-eyed deer that we've promised to protect. You remember the plan??"

"Of course I remember the plan, Michael." I'd writted as much of it as anyone.

"Then don't give me any more improv, brother." And with that, he was gone.

Michael's plan was supposed to start when the eighth performing band, "Running with Flies," started their first song. R.W.F, as I'm gonna call them for short, were from El Paso; some guys from the football team had gone up to Albuquerque to sneak into a club when they were playing, and they'd been raving about the group ever since, so there was a lot of buzz about the group and they were considered fairly strong contenders. Hopefully, that meant that there would be a lot of excitement that could distract the FBI goons at the right moment.

Of course, we couldn't convey that particular detail, the moment we were going to act, to Topolsky, at least not without risking the agents' overhearing or provoking them into doing something dangerous. So Kathleen wandered through the fest grounds, watching some of the early-to-mid performers, got herself a corn dog and then some cotton candy, played a few games, and all the while the FBI goons watched her very obviously and we watched all three of them as circumspectly as we could. The FBI agents were starting to attract some attention from the other fest attendees, and some of them seemed to have put together that they were watching Topolsky, but none of them really came up to them and asked them what they were doing or anything - it's that mask of hostility I think. On the other hand, some people did come up and start talking to Topolsky - she had been the guidance counselor for a few months, after all, and her disappearance was wildly talked about. She made excuses as best she could and tried not to let anyone engage her in conversation for too long.

I was starting to wonder how this would affect our plan. A few people from the high school stepping up and talking to her seemed harmless, but what if Valenti found out?? He'd asked about Topolsky earlier this week - what if he came down into the festival to find her? That could complicate everything. Not to mention, if people were paying particular attention to Topolsky, would they notice when we made our move?? And if so, would they try to help or to stop us??

I could tell that the FBI guys were getting very uncomfortable about this situation. But there wasn't really anything that they could do about it - they couldn't really kill her now, when the orders had been to wait until night and she wasn't causing any immdeiate danger. Plus, she was in a crowd situation the whole time and they couldn't really just shoot her in front of witnesses - or take her away when she'd be perfectly capable of raising a scene and calling for the festival security. So they just watched, getting antsier and antsier about it.

Then Running with Flies took the stage and the music began. Alex stepped out into full view and gestured Kathleen towards the crowded stands before the stage. Luckily, the FBI guys didn't even recognize him or notice him at all. She made her way in, not really sure what to expect, and made her move.

Liz grabbed Topolsky's hand and urged her away on an oblique angle - at which Michael was ahead of her, clearing a path through the crazy teenagers and college students.

Meanwhile, Isabel had stepped in to fill the vacancy in Kathleen's original position - she had changed into identical clothing (with the help of a little molecular manipulation,) and looked a little similar from behind.

The lead FBI agent following her stopped when he saw Isabel, now apparently not trying to move any further out of his sight, but the second one was more suspicious. He reached out, grabbed her by the shoulder and swung her around - and gasped when he saw that it really wasn't Topolsky.

"Hi guys," I muttered, stepping out of the crowd beside Isabel. "Walk away." I grinned, feeling very much like the lion, facing down the monkeys once more. Sure enough, they started backing away.

"Ahhh!!!" Knowing almost exactly where to look, I turned and saw Michael, Liz, and Topolsky, who had just left the crowd area and started climbing up a steep embankment. Facing them were three more FBI goons!!

* * * * *

Liz Parker's Diary...

Okay, let's see -- I want to explain this as well as I can, so you're going to have to bear with me. The three of us had started scrambling up the slope, which we knew was perhaps the most dangerous part, since we were once again in full view from the watching crowds. If Max and Isabel hadn't distracted the FBI agents well enough, we knew that they might take a shot at Miss Topolsky, or even one of us.

But we hadn't been expecting three *more* FBI goons to be meeting us right there!!

I'm sure I let out more than a bit of a yelp, and one of the new agents, a tall, thin, dangerous guy with a squint in his left eye, chuckled nastily. He reached out to seize my shoulder in a painful grip, but before he could finish the motion, his right side was knocked back by some kind of invisible force. The guy next to him was buffeted a bit by it too. I stole a hurried look back and saw Max hurriedly hiding a gesture in our direction - he had obviously used that 'pushing' trick to save me. I filed a note of thanks mentally, to deliver later, in person.

Meanwhile, someone yelped, and I quickly turned back to the situation. Luckily, it was the third FBI agent, who Topolsky had just hit in the head with some kind of spinning crescent kick. Michael began a dash for our estape route - the shrubbery path that would lead us back towards town - when he noticed that more blue-suited figures were coming UP that path. What the hell??

There was no help for it - we'd have to try a different way out of the Fest grounds and hope that they hadn't surrounded the whole area with a net. Suddenly seized by inspiration, before we ran off in the other direction I hung back, grabbed Squinty's gun from his belt holster, and pushed him down. By that time I had to rush to catch up with Michael and Kathleen, but I felt it was worth it.

Fortunately, there was no other net - at least, not yet. How had they managed to be waiting for us in force at exactly the places we had been planning to use to take Kathleen out?? That bothered me, but I had to put it out of my mind as we hurried to try to find a way out. There was another blue suit at the main entrance, and I panted to Michael, "try to get past him, or find another way??"

"We go past him," Michael confirmed impulsively. "If he causes trouble, you scare him away with the gun. Shoot to miss him if you have to."

So we hurried through, and when the FBI guard at the gate tried to intercept Kathleen, I pointed the gun at him, and when that didn't scare him, I aimed well above and to the right of his right shoulder, up into the air, and fired. ***BAANG***!!!

I almost dropped the gun, the explosion was so loud and unpleasant. But it had the effect of at least distracting FBI-boy while we ran through. I drew up alongside Michael and handed him the gun. "Here, you can take it, I couldn't do that again." It felt hot under my fingers, and the thought kept running through my minds that there was a police test that they could do on your fingers, wasn't there, to tell if you'd discharged a firearm? Did whatever traces they were testing for get cleaned off when you washed your hands?? Probably not, or it wouldn't be much good in all those mystery shows - I think most people would wash their hands after they'd shot someone.

I also couldn't help wondering how far that bullet had gone, and if there was any chance it had hurt somebody on the way down, out of our sight.

"Look out!!" Kathleen called out. Yet more FBI blue-coats -- no, these were probably the same batch we had seen coming up the shrubbery path, now having turned around and gone back down and looking for us here on Montana drive. They probably assumed that we would be moving towards a getaway car here, and they were right - there was no way we could get to Max's jeep without them seeing us. Michael led the way on a path between some houses that would hopefully take us to Ohio street.

It did, but by that time it was clear that somebody was still on our tail. We hightailed it down Ohio towards eighth street. "Where are we going??" Kathleen asked under her breath.

"Maria's place, I guess," Michael muttered. "We need to have a car to get you out of town, and that seems closest." I didn't bring up whether Michael had a key for Maria's mom's Jetta - it didn't seem really the point at that moment.

I don't remember too much about the next few blocks, except getting more tired with every step I ran, and the sounds of pursuit getting closer behind us.

It happened when we got to the corner of Delaware, Highland, and Riverside. Now, Delaware ends in a T-insersection with Highland street, while Riverside curves in from a different direction, so that it's hard to see very far at all down that street unless you actually follow it for quite a ways.

Tess was standing there, right at the sidewalk where Riverside began, and as we hurried past I suddenly yelled "What the hell are you doing here??" I'd had it up to here with her mysterious routine, especially when we all knew what she was up to.

Or so I thought. "Come on," she said, pointing down Riverside. "I'll cover for you."

I shared a doubtful look with Topolsky and Michael. Topolsky didn't seem to like the idea much either, (she was the one who had ID'd Tess as an agent first, hadn't she??) but Michael shrugged acceptingly.

"It's really a shortcut, and even if she tells them we went that way, how are we worse off??"

"I guess so, unless..." I nodded down the street at Michael meaningfully, hoping that he'd get what I didn't want to say. Were there special unit agents waiting for us down that street??

Michael nodded, and concentrated for a moment. I was looking at Tess in that moment, and I could swear that there was a flash of recognition on her face, that she KNEW what Michael was doing - that he was extending his senses looking for such an ambush. And then the look on Tess' face was gone, and I wondered if it had been there in the first place.

"Let's go," Michael said, hurrying Kathleen all and we went. I heard some dialog behind us once we had fully rounded the turn, and muttered to Michael. "Can you tell which way they're going??"

He focused again. "Doubling back up Highland to the east." That was taking them almost directly away from us and away from the direction they would have to go to easily intercept us. Had Tess really covered for us, then?? Apparently so, but I didn't know what that meant.

Apparently the net was being cast wider, though. About halfway from there to the DeLuca house, we got caught between two search parties in a dingy alley, hiding until there was a chance to move on again.

"Hey, your apartment is right over there, isn't it??" I said to Michael, pointing across a yard to his new building.

"Hmm, yeah. Just a second, wait here for me. I'll be careful." And Michael scaled the fence to the yard without another word.

* * * * *

MARIA:

I wandered around Michael's apartment, just like I'd been doing for the past I don't know how many hours. Four now??

I mean, I understand that in any team somebody has to get the boring jobs that aren't any fun. But it seems to me that some of us get picked for jobs like this more often and some less often. Oh well.

And to top it all off, I don't even get to GO to the bandzfest, and I was really looking forward to it! No, I get stuck here, babysitting some alien hunk of metal.

I sat down on the couch, turned on the TV, started flipping around - and there was some outdoor concert on. Hey -- that was the bandzfest!! THe local cable access station must be broadcasting it - geez, I wish I'd known that a few hours ago. I sat down and started watching, pretending that I was really there.

It was only a few minutes before a knock on the door. "Go away, we aren't buying any!!" I yelled.

"Maria, it's me!" The voice was unmistakeable. I hurried over to take a look through the peephole -- sure enough, "Spaceboy??"

He chuckled at me calling him that, which Michael has never done before. "Can you let me in, it's urgent."

"What about your key??"

"I, uh... I must have dropped it somewhere." I sighed and opened the door.

"What's up??"

"I... I need the resonance stone," he said quickly. "Things are getting sticky and it could really help us out."

"Umm... you mean the orb??" Had Michael found out something about it? "The one that Max and Liz found out in the desert??"

"Yes!!" He hissed out the word, almost as if he was angry about it, but I guess he was just excited.

"Well, come on, it's right here, where you left it." I led the way into the living room - he seemed very distracted, so I gestured towards the squat bookcase, designated hiding spot of the week, and when Michael hesitated I picked the orb up myself. The thing really did look like a kooky paperweight. "Do you know more about it now??"

"I have a hunch." He took the orb when I offered it to him. "Sorry to have to leave so fast, but... they might be in danger. I need to get back."

"Just one second." I quickly threw my arms around him and laid one on. He seemed very surprised, and didn't kiss back very well, but I wrote that off to distraction too. Soon he'd headed off again.

I was tempted to go down to the Fest grounds at that point, but I'd been given a second job too, of being a contact point here at Michael's place, so I sat back on the couch, waited for the phone to ring and tried to decide if I liked the next act or not.

* * * * *

MICHAEL:

Things went pretty easily once I got back to the girls. Both of the search parties had moved on by then, and we made our way to Maria's mom's place without much further incident, though a few scary moments.

Things were quiet enough when we got there, actually, that I considered actually going in and asking Amy DeLuca if we could borrow the car, but a few warning alarms scotched that idea. First, there was the possibility she might say no, either because she happened to have a legitimate reason for it or because she was still holding a grudge from last time. Also, if either of us went up to talk to her, she might see Miss Topolsky with us, and that could only complicate things for her, and all of us.

So I stole it the hybrid way, popping the locks and starting the ignition with my powers only. I pulled out quickly but quietly, trying to keep her from hearing us, and headed out to Union Ave, turning north. And an unmarked car fell in right behind us, turning on one of those emergency services cherries. "PULL OVER!!"

"Not a chance in hell," I growled, tossing the pistol to Topolsky. "Can you shoot out one of his tires??"

Kathleen Topolsky smirked. "They gave me a class on that." She leaned out the window, aimed back, and fired. No effect. "Just a sec, it's been a while," she groaned. Another shot.

It wasn't the tire this time, but as near as I can figure, the bullet ricocheted off the hood of the car and slammed into the windshield, fracturing it. The car seemed to swerve a little.

"Well, that works, kinda," I muttered. Visibility couldn't be good at all. I took a quick turn onto Sixteenth street, trying to lose the pursuit. Surprisingly, he managed to spot us, probably out of the side window instead of the front, but he fish-hooked his way onto the same street as us -- and his front right tire blew out as Kathleen's third shot hit the target perfectly. He knocked over a hydrant and water started spraying everywhere.

From there on, the getaway was clean - no operatives on wheels north of us, I guess - and things got very quiet for a bit. "Umm, by the way -- where are you taking me??" Topolsky mentioned as we sped along.

"Uh, somewhere you'll be safe," Liz said a little awkwardly.

"With a friend of yours??" Kathleen asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Umm... something like that, kinda - but not really," I mumbled. Would River Dog be around the cave, come to think of it?? We didn't know how often he hung out there, maybe not very often. Maybe all the time.

"Well, wherever it is I'm going, thank you," Kathleen told us sincerely. "I asked you to get me away from the special Unit, and it looks like you delivered. Whatever I can do to help you -- any of you, in return, I'll be happy to try."

I looked at Liz, where she sat in the back seat. It looked like freedom was definitely having a healthy effect on Topolsky -- she didn't seem like the raving nut she had been when we met in the woods - well, only raving a little, I guess. Then again, she seemed pretty good as soon as she got to the Bandzfest grounds... maybe this was just a good day for her. Or maybe even the prospect of freedom had been good for her.

"Let's make sure you're safe before we worry about undying gratitude," I muttered gruffly.

"Of course," Topolsky agreed, nodding. "Can I just ask you one question??"

I thought about that a second. "Ask." I carefully didn't promise to answer.

"Do you even know where you came from??"

I blinked in surprise. "As far as that goes, no. Not a clue. How did you..."

"A few clues you've dropped since I got back to town," Kathleen said softly. "Well, I hope that you can find some answers."

"Thanks."

The sun had just set by the time we had to park the car and make the rest of the way through an isolated corner of the reservation in Frazier woods to the cave. "I think we've got a welcoming committee," Liz muttered as we drew close.

Sure enough, there was an unmistakeable figure standing near the mouth of the cave. "River dog, how's it hanging?? What are you doing here? I hope we didn't disturb some intense native american meditation thing or anything."

River dog shook his head. "I somehow knew that you would be returning to this place: Michael Guerin, Liz Parker. Do not ask me how. And... that you would bring an outsider, yet again." He stared at Topolsky pointedly.

"Um, yeah," I mumbled. "Sorry about that, but this is Kathleen. She's in a lot of trouble, needs a place to lay low for a little while, and this was the only place that we could think of that would be safe enough. Do you... mind, horribly??"

River Dog continued to stare at Topolsky. "Indeed, you have seen much hardship over the past several months, have you not, my child??" Startled, she nodded. "Then you are welcome to stay here, as my guest, for as long as you need. Long has this place been a sanctuary and last refuge for those with no other safety in this world."

"Yeah, about that," I added. "You... you haven't seen 'the man' around here lately?? Nacero or whatever it is you call him??"

River dog blinked. "Not for many tens of years."

"I was just wondering - we're assuming he was the one who left the symbol for us... right -- " I whirled around, getting my bearings. "There." I pointed off across the clearing a bit.

"As far as I know, it could be none other," River Dog confirmed. "However, I did not see him that night, and have seen no sign of him since."

"Okay, well, just a heads up. If he does show up, he might not be too happy about Kathleen crashing in his pad. Not that she's his enemy, but he might not distinguish between her and the people who are after her..."

"You have renounced them??" River dog asked Topolsky. "That is why they seek you out??"

"Re-what??" I mumbled.

"Renounce," Liz stage-whispered to me. "To declare against a group membership."

"Yes," Topolsky agreed.

"Come," River Dog continued, leading her towards the cave. "You are tired, and hungry, and thirsty."

Liz looked at me. "I guess that's our cue to head back??"

Kathleen turned back. "Ohh, I almost forgot. I said I'd give this to you guys once you got me out from Special Unit observation." She reached under her baggy T-shirt and produced the second orb, the 'Power orb' as Isabel called it after she got a dose of its vibe in the woods. "Good luck."

"Thanks." I took it and headed back to the Jetta. Liz followed.

Once we hit the main highway, I called Max's cell. "Hey, anything of note at the festival??"

"Not since you guys left, man. Oh, the FBI guys were still sniffing around - one of them tried to give Alex a hard time but Isabel stopped that pretty quickly. Oh, and we've had a Tess Harding sighting, too."

"Really?" Liz called into the car phone. "When??"

"Umm... about quarter to six, maybe??"

"She must have come right over after running into us," I told him. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Are you guys okay??"

"Yeah, fine. Topolsky's having a meet and greet with River dog, they'll get along fine. And no-one followed us up."

"Hmm." Max thought about that. "River dog??"

"Yeah, he was waiting for us at the cave, said he had a feeling we would be there. Look, why don't you guys head over to my place, I'm sure Maria's a little lonely, and we'll get there as soon as we've dropped the Jetta off. Actually, if you or Isabel could be waiting at Maria's mom's place to pick us up, that would help a lot I think."

Once we finally got back to my apartment, the first thing I did was head over to the low shelves. "Okay, Maria, where did you move the Orb to??" I asked.

"Oh, very funny," she said, shaking her head at me.

"Umm, actually, no, it isn't." I sighed. "You were here to guard it, it isn't where it was this morning, so you should be able to say where it is."

Maria was just staring at me now. "What, did the special unit bust in here and take it??"

"YOU DID!" she blurted out. "Well, not bust in, but you showed up, said you might need it because things were getting hairy, and you took it."

Now it was my turn to stare. "Maria, I haven't been back here since we all left to get the operation rolling..." A horrible notion was beginning to dawn.

"Are you sure, Michael??" Liz asked. "I mean, you did leave Topolsky and I, just when we were passing through this area."

"No, I went up to a rooftop to scout on the search parties," I told her. "Then I came right back to you guys." I turned back to Maria. "When was it that *I* came??"

"Umm, around six."

"That was after we were in the Jetta, heading out of town," Liz confirmed. "So, someone else came in here, and took the first orb??"

"Nacero has left the building," Alex muttered ominously.

"Oh, my god, I should have realized something was wrong," Maria muttered. "He said he had lost his keys, he didn't know where to find the stone, he didn't kiss well. Sheez, he didn't even use my name!!" She perked up, considering something. "He called it a resonance stone, too."

"What the heck does Nacero want with the orb??" Isabel asked.

"I don't know," Max muttered. "But he's got it now."

"And we've got this one," I said, holding up the one I'd got from Topolsky.

"Yes, but do we have any idea what to *do* with it??" Alex countered, pointing at the thing.

I didn't really have an answer to that one - none of us did.

END OF SECTION 2... TO BE CONTINUED...


	7. Part 3a: Trigon

Liz Parker's Diary:

Thursday, April the 6th, 2000.

It's been five days now. Five days since we helped Kathleen Topolsky escape from Special Unit surveillance and brought her up to the cave in the reservation. Five days since an imposter pretending to be Michael... (who we can only assume was Nacero,) took one of the Orbs from Maria.

I don't know what to think about all that, still. I think we did the right thing by Kathleen - I'm glad that we could help her. And the special unit crew seems to be keeping a low profile, though we still catch a glimpse of something suspicious every now and then. It seems like every time we win a symbolic victory, the people behind the hunt for Max and the others duck and cover. Nobody on our side is letting their guard down, though -- that may be just what THEY are waiting for.

Tess Harding, on the other hand, is definitely *not* staying out of sight. In fact, she seems to be everywhere, another fact that falls into the 'I don't know what it means' category. One line of reasoning would have it that if her behavior is radically different from that of the Special Unit, then they aren't working together.

But Topolsky saw Tess and Anthony Harding inside the Special Unit headquarters. (I managed to remember to ask her the description of the man she saw with Tess, and it fits Isabel's description of Tess' dad very well.) Tony Harding, I feel compelled to add, who's the manager of the Kilohertz arcade, the basement of which is stuffed with FBI surveillance equipment, set up to spy all over town. Another reason that we're not letting our guard down.

Speaking of the FBI surveillance, there's something I should probably mention about that. When Michael, Alex, and I snuck into Kilohertz, we saw a scene of the Crashdown's dining room on one of the monitors, right?? So, I've been thinking about it, and I finally worked out where the camera had to be - a wooden, carved alien that's been sitting on the seat between two of the booths for a week or two. I'm not sure where it came from - before I started suspecting it I assumed that my parents had bought it from Amy DeLuca or some local artisan.

Anyway, the critter has four tentacled paws, one of them raised playfully; a coiled spiral tail, scaly yellowish-brown 'skin,' and one huge deep black eye. It's pretty cute, actually, but to me there was a cinch that the big eye could hide a camera lens.

I didn't want to get too close to the thing myself - it would be suspicious. But I managed to prod Nicky, the main chef in the Cafe kitchen-- (Michael's just helping him out and picking up the slack on Nicky's off shift,) into taking a closer look at the little alien, and he noticed it making weird sounds and unscrewed it and took it to my Dad. Dad managed to take its head off and boom, found some very suspicious looking wires inside. He's going to take it to Sheriff Valenti today, and I don't know what's going to happen there. Sometimes I'm too smart for my own good - if I knew that all this was going to happen, I'd have probably kept my big mouth shut. But who knows... maybe something good will come of it.

* * * * *

MAX:

I had a dream.

When it started, I was driving the Jeep through the air. Michael and Isabel were riding with me... but we ran out of gas and smacked into the desert floor - the car exploded into parts that mostly disappeared, and the three of us were thrown in different directions.

I felt a hand helping me up - it was Liz, and as I got to my feet she kissed me - a serious, no-kidding-around french kiss. When I could come up for air I looked around, and noticed that Michael, Isabel, and I were standing at the points of an equilateral triangle, whose lines were drawn in dark sand. Michael's arms were around Maria, and Isabel kissed Alex on the cheek as I watched, but it was clear that the triangle was picking on us, the pod squad, and not our human sweeties.

There were other lines drawn in the dark sand too - one directly from each corner of the triangle into the center. And as I watched, there was a puff of smoke, and a figure cloaked and hooded in black appeared at the center of the figure. "Who's that?" I asked out loud. I think those were the first words in the dream.

"Can't you guess?" a new voice asked. I turned around, and saw Tess Harding standing a little way away from the rest of us. "Little slow on the uptake, aren't ya, hotshot??"

"One way to find out," I muttered, and turned to walk up the line towards the figure in black. With a mighty roar he waved one hand in a sudden gesture - and I was flying through the air, and landed with a thump, and there was the taste of sand in my mouth, and then... I was wide awake, sitting up in my bed.

"Wow." That had been a heck of a dream, so detailed, as if I had really been there. Wish there had been more of the Liz-kissing, and less of... well, I guess the mysterious alien stuff was okay too, though the ending had been uncomfortable. I wonder if some part of it was real, like the flashes - if the dream was trying to tell me something.

Then I caught sight of the clock, and had to rush into action getting ready for the day. I'd told Liz that I'd pick her up for school, and I had to be there in twenty minutes.

A quick shower, clothes, one of those horrible granola breakfast bars, and seven blocks later, (which unfortunately added up to almost twenty-five minutes,) I was pulling up in the cafe, and sure enough Liz was waiting for me, though the impatient look on her face that I kind of expected, (and would have deserved,) was nowhere to be seen. That's one of the things I secretly love about Liz - she almost never makes me feel bad about doing something wrong, even when she maybe should.

"Sorry I'm late," I said as she got in, and she just smiled that hundred-watt smile at me. "What's up??"

Quickly Liz was telling me how this little decorative alien with the special unit surveillance camera had come to the attention of her parents, and how they would be taking it to show Valenti today. Personally, I wasn't too worried about it. So Valenti finds out that the special unit is spying on his town - with any luck, maybe they'll start spying on each other and nobod will pay any attention to us anymore. I know, I know... wishful thinking, huh? Still, it might be a useful diversion at any rate.

From the school parking lot, Liz walked with me to my locker as we chatted about harmless stuff - teachers and student gossip and what have you. I unlocked my locker and had grabbed a few books before I realized something was different from the way I left it.

"Hmmm... a card." It was one of those little dealies you can make in a computer printer from a piece of ordinary-size paper, on one side only, and then you fold it into quarters to get a miniature greeting card, with different content on the front, back, and both halves of the inside. "I wonder who this could be from," I announced out loud, watching out of the corner of my eye for Liz's reaction.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the one I was hoping for. "Don't look at me," she quickly disclaimed. "If I wanted to slip something sweet and thoughtful into your locker, I think I could've done better than that. Which means sometime I'm gonna, when you least expect it."

I laughed. "Okay, I'll be waiting for the unexpected." I turned back and examined the card in detail. "You are cordially invited... to my sweet sixteen slash housewarming pool party." There was a handwritten message. "Sorry for the short notice, Max, hope you can make it. Tess Harding." There were directions and a time included.

"We all got one too." I looked up to see Isabel, (who just said that,) Alex, Maria, and Michael walking towards us in a loose line. "What about you, Parker?"

Liz shrugged awkwardly. "Wouldn't know - I haven't gotten to my locker yet. Probably I've got one too."

"Unless she wanted to cut you out for some reason," Michael suggested.

"So... what do we do?" Maria asked. "Do we RSVP??"

"She's an FBI cover agent!!" Isabel hissed in an intense whisper - we'd established that this area was clear of listening devices. "We tell her we already made plans. And we don't have anything to do with her than we can help."

"I'm not sure," Alex muttered back. "She saved Michael, Liz, and Kathleen. Why should she have done that if she's the enemy??"

"To make us trust her," Isabel shot back.

"I don't trust her - I just think we're assuming a lot because Topolsky saw her one time."

"Maybe the FBI wasn't ready to catch anyone at Bandzfest," Maria pointed out. "They weren't sure what Michael could do if he was cornered. So they sent Tess in there to help them save face and keep us from realizing that we have the upper hand - for the time being."

"Maybe," Michael agreed. "Bottom line is, Tess is a player in this game, and I'm starting to think an important one. I don't know if she's on the special unit's side, I don't know if she thinks she's on our side, I don't know if she's only out for herself. But she's a player, and we can't just ignore her and hope she goes away. We've got to figure out what her angle is, and taking her gambit might be the best way to do just that."

"Hmmm." Liz ummed. "Max, what do... Max??"

"Hey, it's okay, I'm right here," I assured her, shaking myself to a greater stage of alertness. I had heard every word that everyone said, but part of my attention was focused on something else. The invitation -- there was something familiar about it. Suddenly it popped into focus. "My dream!!"

There was a bit of an awkward silence. Then Isabel whispered, "Max, speaking on behalf of the group... what the heck are you talking about??"

"This symbol," I said, pointing at the inside right of Tess' card, which showed an equilateral triangle segmented into three oblique sections by lines runnning between the corners and the center. "It was in my dream -- a spooky Czechoslovakian dream I had this morning... all of us were in it, and Tess too."

Another pause, shorter this time. "You didn't mention you had a special dream," Liz said in a tiny little voice.

*NOW* I felt bad. "I'm sorry - I'd gotten distracted and forgotten it until just this moment." I wrapped an arm around Liz and kissed her hair softly.

"You know, that design does seem familiar," Isabel agreed, taking the invite from me and looking at it a bit. "I didn't notice that when I got mine - at least, not consciously." She handed it back.

"I think this qualifies as another reason we should probably be going to this party," Alex muttered. "She knows something, and she's using it as part of the gambit."

I was examining the card more closely myself. "Copy 2 of 11?" I read out in small print that was upside down on the back page.

"Yeah, I was 5," Michael muttered. "Did anyone else notice that?"

No-one had. "Wait a second," Liz muttered. "If Tess printed out eleven invites, then who did the other five go to?"

"We'll find out," I assured her.

We had to break things up around that point, each going to our seperate classes. Liz, Isabel and I had chemistry first period. "So, what else happened in your dream??" Liz whispered into my ear as we walked.

"Umm... I'll tell you later," I muttered. "There's a fair bit of it to be getting into here."

* * * * *

ISABEL:

"No, really, I loved it," I assured Alex as we walked away from his history classroom. "It was a great idea."

"You could have fooled me from the immensely bored look on your face two thirds of the way through the movie," he teased.

"Well... the storyline was lagging there for a bit," I admitted. "But it picked up. And -- no matter what the movie, I just love being with you." For a second, I couldn't believe what I'd just said.

"You'd better watch yourself," Alex said, looking into my eyes with concern.

"What??"

"For an Ice Queen, you're getting positively mushy. That can't be healthy."

"Oh my god... is that still how you think of me??" I looked over at Alex, and then belatedly realized he had been mostly joking. "Well... if I'm the Ice Queen, then you make me melt."

"Oooh, now that is just not an attractive mental picture," he complained.

I sighed. "So... wait a second. If you were looking at me, then... were you bored by the movie at that point too?"

"Just a little," he allowed.

Alex had opened his mouth to say something else, but I had no idea what it was because we were interrupted at that point. "Guest list - where do we stand??" Michael whispered hoarsely.

I blinked a little and turned around, almost bumping into Michael's face, since he had been leaning almost in between Alex and I from behind. Maria, Max, and Liz were there too. "Errr... Valerie Morgan," I said, naming the only person that I'd found to be invited to Tess' party. "Cheerleading squad, prom committee. She's already RSVP-ed, I think she wants Tess to join her little clique."

"Didn't you use to be part of Valerie Morgan's clique??" Max asked softly.

"Not a part of it," I shot back. "I hung out with her and her friends for a few years, yeah, until events deprived me of any kind of a social life outside this circle." I nudged Alex softly to make sure he realized that no insult was meant there.

"Nathan Williams," Alex contributed next. "He's the keyboard player in the band I'm in. Definitely intending to attend, he didn't really know why Tess invited him. I think this is probably the first time a cute girl has asked him to go to a party." He shot a glance and a smile over at me, and I wondered if he was thinking me asking him along to the soap factory rave. If so, I was glad that his memories of that night had reached the 'fond' stage... he had told me off pretty thoroughly the last time I saw him at that party. Of course...

"Nathan..." Max muttered. "I think I know him too. Was he in the math club last year, and in junior high??"

"Probably," Alex agreed. "Sounds like his sort of deal."

"Kayla Strassguetl," Liz pronounced carefully, though I couldn't quite catch the foreign-sounding series of sounds in the last name at the time. "Was a friend of Maria and mine in junior high... she got upset when we started to let Alex into the things we were doing and ended up cutting us all out. No idea if she's going to accept the invite or not."

"Casey Irvine," Michael continued. "Varsity football and hockey teams. I know him vaguely; he used to live about half a block away from the trailer park. Nice guy, we'd throw around some kind of ball or something. Probably accepting the invite as we speak - I think he's got the hots for Miss Harding."

"The football team's always on the lookout for quote 'talent' un-quote," Maria muttered under her breath."

"And that brings us to our last name," Max sighed. "Mister Kyle Valenti. I don't suppose anyone needs to hear a review of *his* record, or doubts that he'll be showing up with bells on."

"Not once he hears that all of us are invited too," I mumbled.

"So... are we still going??" Liz asked. "I mean... there seems to be a pattern here, and unfortunately it's pointing inwards at us."

"Yeah," Alex confirmed. "All of them know at least one or two of us."

"So??" Michael said. "In a town this small, the chances... no, come to think of it I guess I see what you mean," he allowed in a sudden reversal. "They've been picked out."

"But I don't think that necessarily changes anything," Max said. "We need to find out what Tess is up to - we need to play her game, and not let down our guard for an instant."

"Okay," Maria agreed. "God, I hope we don't regret this."

"So..." I said, eager to change the subject. "What's going on tonight??"

"Well, we're heading up to the reservation to check in on... our guest," Michael mumbled, indicating Maria along with himself. "You said someone else would be coming up, right??"

"Yeah." Alex and I had been up there to visit with Topolsky two or three days ago. "Just be sure and double-check, okay?? Abort the run if there's even a chance that the unit is following you. And check the Jetta for homing devices or anything like that, okay??"

"I will, MOM," he joked, and even I laughed at that one.

"I was thinking that the four of us should go out," Max said. He didn't gesture, but apparently the 'four' were those that were left without Michael and Maria - he, Liz, Alex, and I.

"Okay, I guess," I mumbled. "Senor Chao's again??"

"Nah," Alex said with a secretive smile on his face. "Leave it to us."

* * * * *

When the Jeep, (in which the four of us were riding,) pulled over and stopped, I had to peer between Alex and the back of Max's seat to see what our destination was. Once I had, I wished I still didn't know. "Terahertz."

"You're taking us to the arcade??" Liz chimed in.

"Hush." Max leaned over and kissed her quickly. "Just give us fifteen minutes before you start complaining."

And I have to admit, it wasn't bad at all. Tess' dad had called the Terahertz center 'premium,' and surprisingly that description wasn't limited to the arcade games, at least not in my opinion. First we ate, in a restaurant up on the third level where the food choices ranged from casual dining to 'anything but.' I had a filet mignon with mixed vegetables, and Alex paid for me without even mentioning it.

"What's next," Liz said as we rode the elevator back downwards. "Does this place have a hip-hop dance hall too?"

"Afraid not," Max told her. "But don't worry - if you wanna get down, we'll get down." Surprisingly, he was actually able to pull that line off.

We rode down to the main level and activated the hour-and-a-half cards that the guys had bought in advance. Max took Liz over to try some footwork game where your virtual characters move the same way you move - except when they get knocked down and you have to stamp in place over and over again to get them to stand up.

Alex and I ran around the floor trying some slightly more conventional arcade games - a 'Reboot' game where you played the mainframe characters as they rebooted to play *other* computer games, which seemed a little too meta-referential for me. There were other games based on movies and TV shows too - Buffy the vampire Slayer, Princess Bride, Phantom Menace, Star Trek. Other titles I didn't recognize and were probably established video game brands - Escape from Mysteria, Kirilian Crusade, and Starfighter 6.

Plus all the 'race' and 'chase' games... in model cars, motorcycles, planes, even boats - the plastic mockups rigged up to the game computer seeming to come alive in full digital color within the virtual simulation. I had lost track of time, and said a pretty foul word when the boat racer refused to give me a continue on the grounds that my card had expired.

"Can we get an extrension, sweetie?" I asked Alex with what I'm sure was a pretty convincing pout.

"Naw, it's better this way. Getting too crowded." Sure enough the floor, which had been nearly empty when we stepped off the elevator, was now packed with other gamers. We had come over right after classes, only stopping off long enough to get changed. Someone else was waiting to use my boat, and I got out with a little bit of a sour expression on my face.

"We can come back another time," Alex reminded me, kissing me on the cheek. "In the meantime, Max and I arranged one more surprise. C'mon, let's go find them."

Max and Liz were still escaping from Mysteria when we found them, but it was only a few minutes before a squad of dark monks wiped them out beyond any hope of recovery, now that their power cards were dead too. Max and Alex led us, (Liz and I,) over to a large dark doorway where a short queue of people had already formed.

An attendant took tickets (which Alex already had, of course,) and led us through a dim corridor to a room where there was... well, it looked like a big amusement park carriage, three rows from front to back, maybe twelve seats across. I secured myself into a seat with the torso restraint, between Alex and Max.

The lights dimmed, pictures appeared on the front wall, and the carriage began to vibrate softly. The effect was as if all of us were actually moving, especially because you couldn't move your head to look to the sides... or up or down.

Voices came over the loudspeaker. "Perception: that our day-in, day-out world is real..." "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself..."

* * * * *

MICHAEL:

"Well, thanks for coming up here," Kathleen told us. We were sitting out in front of the cave on some chairs that I guess River Dog had gotten some younger Native kids to bring in from the reservation. We had a good view of the road so that we could spot someone coming before they could identify any of us, but there was no sign of any other visitor. Kathleen, Maria and I were drinking some sodas that the two of us had brought up from town, while the Dog sipped at some kind of root tea.

"As far as Miss Harding..." Kathleen continued, "you may have something with that idea that she's playing her own agenda. I don't really know what she was doing there in the special unit - after all, I was there too, and I wasn't chained up or anything at that exact moment. But there has to be some connection there..."

"Yeah," Maria agreed. "I'm coming to accept the fact that we'll have to figure that out." She sighed and took a long swig. "So, what else is up with you??"

"Not much - no offense to my good host, but there isn't much to do here."

"None taken," River Dog said quietly.

"I've been working on writing down as much of the past few months as I can remember," Topolsky mentioned, waving at some big notebooks sitting nearby. "Say... did you figure anything out with that orb??"

"No," I told her, "but then we had the other one for more than a month and didn't really figure out how to use it. Will come in time, at least I hope so."

"Oh, hey!!" Maria broke in. "While we're here, can we look for that symbol that Max was talking about?? On the big map, you know??" She pointed into the cave.

"What symbol??" Topolsky asked.

"Umm... some dream thing," I said, not quite sure how else to explain. "Do you mind? After all, it's kinda your cave, for the time being."

"Oh, sure, be my guest." All of us got up, including the silent Indian, and filed inside. There was some of Kathleen's stuff strewn around - mostly stuff that we'd given her - some camping gear that had happened to be in the Jetta when Liz and I 'borrowed' it to sneak Kathleen out of town, and other essentials that Alex and Isabel had brought when they'd been visiting her earlier. A knapsack full of clothes, sleeping bag on an roll-up matress spread out on a reasonably flat stretch of cavern floor. Maria grabbed a flashlight to better illuminate the map, which was placed in a part of the cave that not much natural light got to, especially this late in the day.

"Yeah, there it is," she said, quickly. "Fairly centrally located, too. The Tri-gon." She shrugged, not quite sure what to do next. I was wondering if I'd ever be able to figure out the map again, like I'd done on blind date night. Then again, I really had no way to tell if I'd got it right that night.

We headed back soon after, talking about... you know, come to think of it, I can't really even remember what we talked about on the drive back. A little about this pool party thing, and then I think Maria started rambling on about junior high and this Kayla girl. Yeah, that sounds about right.

* * * * *

Later that night, after putting in a half-shift at the Crash, I showed up at chez Evans. I actually came to the front door, just for a change. Mister Evans answered it, but Isabel was there by the time I was stepping into the front hall. "Hey."

"Oh, hey, Michael. I wanted to talk to you about the... um, the sociology project."

"I'll let you kids get to that," her dad said, beating a quick retreat. Isabel led me to the upstairs lounge.

"So... what's the what??" I asked. "You looked like you had something to bring up."

"Yeah. Umm... did you know where the guys were taking us tonight??"

I smiled. "Yeah. Wouldn't have had the courage myself, but then... look at who I'm dating. I don't think either of you are as much the picture of 'high maintenance."

"Well, thanks... I think." Quickly Isabel told me about this Matrix IMAX ride that they had gone on. "Anyway... right in the middle of one of the big action sequences with Neo against the agents, I heard something else."

"What... what do you mean??"

"I don't know. It was... like some other conversation got embedded in the speaker system and came out on a frequency that only I could hear. At least Alex didn't hear it."

"Okay..." I thought about this. Considering the fact that the Kilohertz building was chock full of special unit surveillance gear, and that Isabel had been working on picking up things beyond the usual human sensory limits, it didn't seem impossible. "What was it about??"

"It was hard to make it out, for obvious reasons. But let's see... 'she invited them all to WHAT??' With a huge emphasis on the what. Talking about somebody going with the program or not. Saying that it might be a good time to make the move anyway. I think that's about it."

"Huh." I considered that. "Do you think it might be about the pool party?"

"Kinda sounds like it might be. Oh, hey Maxwell!!" Max had passed the doorway without noticing that we were there, but he came back and poked his head back in. "How did Liz like the arcade??"

"Ummm... all right, but I have a very strong suspicion I have to take her out dancing sometime soon."

"Oooh, I'll get in with that," I said. "With Maria, of course. Iz??"

Isabel smiled. "I'll get back to you guys. A triple-date might be just TOO confusing. Uh... Max??"

"Yeah??"

"During the Matrix ride... did you hear anything weird?? Did Liz mention anything??"

Max frowned in thought. "You know, now that you mention it, I picked up on some kind of buzzing or feedback. Liz didn't mention it. Why??"

"Ummm..." Isabel yawned. "I'll tell you tomorrow, okay??"

TO BE CONTINUED...


	8. Part 3b

Liz Parker's Diary:

(Evening.)

I'm not sure what to think about this pool party stuff. I know that we can't afford to take it at face value, that Tess Harding has an angle on all this Czechoslovakian stuff, but on some deep level I can't keep myself from hoping that face value is exactly what we get. At least a little bit of face value. I mean, we could all do with a bit of perfectly normal high school fun after all that we've bee through recently.

I've got my outfit picked out already, and I hope Max likes it. I really don't think he would have seen me in this suit last summer, though I'm not sure... I wasn't paying so much attention to him then :)

It'll be weird to talk to Kayla again after so long, if she does take the invite, and if she actually talks to me.

On another note, after the whole thing at Max's locker this morning, I really do want to slip him a surprise, and as soon as possible. He won't be expecting me to be able to put anything together so soon, I don't think...

-----

Okay, ummm... I just got off the phone with Maria -- she called while I was in the middle of the last sentence above. Wanted to vent about her and Michael... she's really not sure where they are, and she doesn't feel comfortable talking with him about it. I mean, when you look at it... they weren't in the greatest place when all this Topolsky stuff started, but, well, it's like this protective urge kicked in inside Michael.

So now, the two of them are hanging out a lot, and he's being really nice to her, but Maria's worried -- about all kinds of stuff. If all of this is just protectiveness on Michael's part, then what happens if a time comes when he doesn't think that she's in danger? She's not sure how he really feels about her, and what he's ready for. There wasn't that much that I could tell her, aside from to hold on to what she could, and to ask him about it if she could possibly get up the nerve. Well, it's late, and I'd better be signing off.

* * * * *

Objective:

"I still say that it's Evans, Guerin, and Evans," Agent Shaw insisted, groaning and fumbling for a particular piece of paper under the mass of files that spread out over the entire conference table, scanned it in frustration, and tossed in back onto the top of the heap.

"Not sure about the second Evans," his partner, Ludeka, countered. "Not entirely convinced about Guerin, come to think of it. And I still say there's a chance that Parker and even DeLuca are aliens."

"*DeLuca*??" Shaw repeated in disbelief. "Now come on, I..." Once again he was fumbling for a report -- he knew that he'd just seen it, and... "Yep. October 6th, 1999." He read from Kathleen Topolsky's daily report. "The 'career counseling' exercises are proving a great insight into the attitudes of the players on stage. Maria DeLuca is intensely worried and frightened... probably about something to do with Miss Evans and the local Sheriff, James Valenti the second.

"Given that the profile of our suspects are individuals who have known that they were different for a long time and have gotten used to hiding in the human culture, DeLuca's lack of control over her emotions indicates that she is not one of them. My theory is that she has learned the secret recently, probably after the Crashdown incident, and is not acclimatizing herself to the rigors of an ironclad conspiracy especially well."

"That's far from open and shut," Ludeka argued back. He was tall, fairly thin, in his mid twenties with sandy blond hair. "First of all, it's psychological; it's completely subjective. You or I might have had a completely different impression if we'd been on the scene instead of Topolsky. Secondly, that 'profile' that you're talking about is pretty much pure speculation anyway. We don't know how long these aliens have known what about themselves... even if they're adults who were in the crash or second-generation children."

"Well, at least you're not going to bring up Whitman again... are you??" Shaw looked the other young man in the eye. "The blood test that was retrieved after dosing Whitman with oral heparin to cause a nose-bleed showed clearly -- pure human..."

"No-one actually SAW his nose bleed onto that particular piece of toilet paper... but yeah, I won't argue the point."

"...And the blood type exactly matches the samples taken from Evans at the hospital," Shaw continued, brushing a lock of dark chesnut hair out of his eyes. He had just turned thirty-one, stood five four three, knew that he was a little overweight for his height and that he worked too hard. "Down to the basic SNP marker genes, even. That pretty much proves that Whitman's blood was swapped for Evans'... and why not Guerin's?? He was there, at the scene, a lot earlier, while Whitman had to get called in. The only possible explanation is that Guerin's blood would have been as incriminating as..."

The door suddenly flew open and Special Agent Neumann was glaring at the two of them, an imposing figure with his dark crew cut and the muscletone that scuttlebutt had it he had developed as an officer in the Marines. "What the hell are you two doing back here??" They had taken over one of the conference rooms built into the facilities under the Terahertz video arcade.

"Working on the assignment," Dennis Ludeka shot back.

"Compiling the information we have on the aliens??" Neumann growled. "What, are you writing up your notes by hand?? Why the hell aren't you out front and using one of the workstations??"

"Before getting to the compiling stage," Jeremy Shaw clarified, since it had been his idea in the first place, "we thought we'd spend some time sorting exactly who the aliens were."

Now Neumann's baleful stare focused on Agent Shaw. "What, are you *trying* to be some kind of wise guy??" he snapped. "Just get out there and compile for Evans, Guerin, Evans, and Parker! Let Pierce and his buddies worry about who's actually an alien and who isn't."

Shaw shrugged, and started to assemble the reports and logs into a few piles that could be easily carried out of the conference room. Special Agent Neumann got on his nerves.

* * * * *

MAX:

I headed up the hallway, opened up my locker, tossed my jacket in and took my binder and chemistry text in without really paying attention. I'd almost slammed the door shut again before I realized that something wasn't quite how I left it.

It was a book, a fairly thick paperback, sitting on the top shelf just exactly as if it thought it belonged there. I took a look. 'The Osgoode Station Incident.' A story of danger, modern-day adventure, and passion set in the business district of Toronto, Canada. Hmmm. A bookmark advertising Jameson's down on Atkinson had a more personal message scrawled on it with a black pen. "Just thinking of you. L." Awwww.

I caught up with Liz outside Maria's locker, and whispered a quick "thanks," in her ear as I wrapped my arms around her, and her face lit up in such a beautiful smile. The four of us, (including Alex,) walked to the science lab together.

Tess was waiting across the hallway from the door. "Oh, hey... sorry to bug, but I haven't heard from you or Max about the thing tomorrow," she said to Liz. "You're the only ones who haven't RSVP-ed in the affirmative -- I really hope you can make it."

"Uh, well..." Liz shot a look at me, possibly experiencing some last-second nervousness, and I nodded at her encouragingly. "Yeah, we'll be there with bells on. Can't wait."

"Cool. I know that I'm a stranger, that I've kind of been taking advantage of your kindness, but it's so weird moving to a new town, and you've been so great about making me feel welcome." She turned my way at that point, and stared into my eyes with kind of an intense look for just a second.

And the second bell rang then, and we all hurried in for a lecture about the kind of large organic molecules that could be found to contain a benzene ring formation.

The day passed quickly... classes, study hall, lunch out on the lawn with the whole gang. Isabel and Liz got into the mother of all grudge matches in something that they called "Super Tic-tac-toe." Isabel just managed to eke out a win, and I think that Liz was shocked at the possibility that she could lose. Well, I love Liz, but... that'll teach her to underestimate my sister, hehe!

There was a huge pop quiz in Trig that afternoon... a surprise test on a Friday afternoon... is there any more heinous concept that the teaching profession has ever come up with? (Sigh.) Ah well, I think I did okay on it at least.

Liz and I, Michael and Maria all headed to the cafe after school was over. Liz's mom and Dad were waiting for her in a booth near the front of the dining room as soon as she got in.

"Hey, honey. There's someone in the back who wants to talk to you," her father said softly.

What was going on? Then I suddenly realized... there had been a cruiser from the sheriff's office in the parking lot while we were on our way in. I hadn't noticed it consciously at the time, but somehow in retrospect it stood out like a sore thumb. I looked around the dining room, hoping to see Owen Blackwood or Deputy Hansen enjoying a late lunch... or even Valenti. Just as long as he wasn't waiting to interrogate Liz in back. No luck with that, of course. I could see that Liz had made the connection too, and that she was a little scared.

I gave her a little nod, hoping to reassure her. I believed in Liz. There's nothing that Valenti can do to you, with your parents waiting out here, I tried to tell her mentally. There isn't even anything that he can do to Michael or me, not in public like this. I hope.

Liz nodded, almost as if she'd heard me, and took a deep breath. "Okay," she said softly, and headed back through the doors that led into the kitchen.

* * * * *

LIZ:

I nodded back at Max, just a little, then turned to look at my parents. Did they have any notion what they were doing to me??

My mom smiled back a little, or tried to at least. It wasn't much of a smile. My dad's face was serious. No, they didn't, I decided. They trusted Jim Valenti... they believed that whatever he asked, he wouldn't have if he didn't have my best interests at heart. I wish I could feel that much confidence in Valenti's value judgements, but of course I can't.

I stepped forward quickly until I'd passed through the doors to the kitchen area, and then looked around the area. I caught sight of a leg and a hand through the doorway to the little office that my Dad kept back there at just the same time that a voice called out from within: "Miss Parker? I'm in here."

I headed in, trying to cover the break in my stride so that he wouldn't notice it. Sure enough... Jim Valenti. "What's all this about, Sheriff?" I asked as calmly as I could, sitting down in the single chair that remained against the wall opposite my dad's desk. Valenti was sitting behind the desk, of course, in my Dad's chair, and he'd apparently taken the time to remove one of the other chairs that was usually kept in here, so that there was no other place for me to go.

For a long moment, Valenti didn't say anything. Slowly, he reached down, into his pocket or one of the drawers, or maybe just getting something that had been sitting in his lap. And then he brought it up, holding it aloft in the air, pointing at me, and then set it down on the edge of the desk. It was the little carved model alien - the bugged one, and its eye was still glaring at me balefully. I kinda jumped in the chair before I could stop myself.

"Don't worry, Miss Parker," Valenti drawled. "The camera and microphone have been deactivated... it isn't transmitting anything any more. Now, looks to me like you were the one who first spotted this charming little guy, though I think you've taken pains to make sure that your parents wouldn't find that out... that I wouldn't find out, maybe, if it came to that."

"I... I don't know what you're taking about," I told him as firmly as I could. "I noticed it, yes, and I mentioned it to Nicky. But he was the one who discovered that it was... whatever it was. More than just a little decorative alien. I just thought it was a kinda *cute* decorative alien."

"Or maybe you just wanted Mister Gonzales to discover that for himself, so that no-one would remember that you were a part of the chain of events??" Valenti guessed out loud, then abruptly took another tack. "Max Evans, he still comes into the cafe a lot, huh?? And his sister Isabel?"

I froze in panic for a second. "Well, yeah... a lot of the kids from my grade do. The crash is a popular hangout."

"Not that popular," the Sheriff countered. "Much as I might wish it was, for your parents' sake. I remember that I saw them in here when I came in a little while ago. The time I asked you about Kathleen, you remember??"

"Umm... yeah," I mumbled. "Kinda. I didn't really notice that Max was there, but..."

"You're pretty friendly with young men that you don't notice, then," he mumbled, just loud enough for me to hear, and I could feel my cheeks start to get hot. Yeah, I'd been flirting with Max when Valenti showed up, hadn't I?? I forgot about that part. And did he suspect that we'd engineered Miss Topolsky's disappearance??

"And Max's best friend... Michael Guerin," Valenti continued, startling me out of my guilty thoughts. "He's started cooking here, right?? Your dad gave him a job after he got emancipated."

"Yeah... yeah, he did," I agreed.

"On your recommendation??"

"Umm... well, not really. I'd heard that Michael would need a job if he wanted to get emancipated and get out of the foster care system... there was a job opening here at the cafe, I told him about it. My dad knew that he was a friend of mine, but I didn't ask him straight out to give the position to Michael."

"Right." Valenti seemed to take a moment digesting that. "You know, Hank Whitmore came to see me in my office later the day that Michael got emancipated. He hadn't heard about it, of course... he'd been off on a drinking and carousing binge out of town." Valenti rolled his eyes a little.

"Aside from wanting to establish that he wasn't a missing person, Hank told me that he was ending his stint as Michael's guardian. Said that he had had a new job offer and was rolling out of town, asked if he needed to sign any papers. Of course, that was all moot already, so I told him no. Didn't think any more about it for a month and a half."

"But something jogged my memory, and I've been spending the past few days trying to track him down. No trace." Valenti leaned over the desk, staring me hard in the eye. "Not a trace of him. Ol' Hank might not have looked like it, but he was a fine hand with a pneumatic die press, and that pays pretty well." The surprise must have showed on my face. "Yep. He was a tightwad, too... stashed everything that he didn't spend on the liquor and the ladies. The point is, there's only a few places in the Las Cruces area that do that kind of work, and it didn't take long to call them all. None of them offered a job recently to any Mister Whitmore."

"So, the conclusion is pretty clear... Hank lied to me. He two-stepped out of town and sold me a cock and bull story to make sure that I'd be looking in the wrong direction until too late. The question is... *why?*" That stare never let up once. "Does it make any sense to you, Liz?? I know you're a very bright girl."

I shook my head, furiously. "No... no, I can't say that it does, Mister Valenti." And even though I wanted very much for that to be true, things were starting to connect in my mind... about Mister Whitmore's disappearance, about the troubles Michael had had with him just beforehand, and about the fact that there was a powerful alien in the mix who could look like anyone he wanted to. Maybe Hank hadn't been the one to talk to Valenti, maybe it had been Nacero, posing as Hank... to cover up the fact that he'd killed Hank??

"I've kept you from your shift too long," Valenti said suddenly, getting up and putting the alien in his pocket as he stood. "Got on a bit of a ramble there, I'm afraid. Do that sometimes. Think I'll head out front and try the Galaxy melt."

"Ummm... I'm, I'm not on shift 'til later," I managed to blurt out. "Think I'll... I'll head upstairs. Want to get that chem homework polished up quick." Max and the gang were waiting for me out front... but I didn't want to head back to him while Valenti was watching. Max would understand... at least, I hoped he would.

* * * * *

MICHAEL:

As we waited at the counter, Max couldn't seem to sit still, or act relaxed in any way. I felt for him -- I know how much he cares about Liz, but we were in a public place, and he was starting to look a little suspicious. I tried to think of some way of calming him down, at least for a moment... some idea that would take his mind off what was going on in back.

"Ummm... counter-top football??" I tried weakly. That just got me a sour look from Maximillian. Oh well, it had been the best I could come up with on short notice.

"Hey," Maria said, as she came up from behind me and got in between the two of us, so she could whisper. She was in her Crashdown waitress' uniform... she was on shift in a few minutes, so had taken the excuse of going in back to get dressed for work, and scoping out the situation.

"It's Valenti all right. I heard him say something about your foster dad, Michael."

That caught me by surprise. "Who, Hank?? Are you sure??"

"Yep, Hank Whitmore. Couldn't have been more clea--" She broke off suddenly when Max made the cut-it-out gesture across his throat. Maria and I both turned around to see Jim Valenti coming out of the back... and as we watched, he sat down in a booth exactly as if nothing were wrong. One of the waitresses came over to take his order... Tania, who was in her mid-twenties and fixated on saving up enough money to leave Roswell forever and go to New York and make it as a Broadway dancer. No, I didn't make that up, she'll babble about it to anyone who'll pretend to listen.

But as the three of us waited, Liz didn't come out of the same door. Max was looking like he was about to explode, and even I had to admit it looked a little suspicious. Finally, after about two minutes had passed, both of us got up and headed into the back, just as Maria was having to actually start working and take orders herself.

There was no-one in back, well, unless you count Jose the cook. Max rushed to investigate the back entrance. I stopped at the stairway that led up into the Parker apartments. "Liz??"

"Yeah?" There was a long pause, and then I could hear scampering little Liz feet. Finally she appeared on the landing about halfway up, and sat down, her feet resting on the second stair down. "Hey," she said, almost in a whisper.

"Hey. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"What, you thought Valenti had zapped me with his disintegration ray?" she quipped in a low mumble. "I would think..." And then she broke off, which was good -- the way things were, better not to express a thought like that even in a whisper, even in a place you thought was probably safe.

"Or he could have hustled you off into a waiting squad car," I joked back.

"I'm fine," she assured me. "We'll... we'll talk about it later, okay??"

"Fine."

"Is Max there too??" I looked over at the door; he had just come in.

"He is now."

"Max??" Max didn't seem to hear her voice from where he was, so I gestured him over, and his face broke into a relieved smile as he saw Liz sitting there.

"Wanna come up for a little chemistry homework, study buddy??" she asked him, just a little teasingly. I shook my head and headed back out to the dining room as Max hustled up the stairs.

The cafe got busy, and soon it was obvious that Maria would have no time to hang out. I'd expected that -- I didn't go on shift until seven this evening, same as Liz, and I'd been planning to hang out with Max and Liz until then. That didn't seem likely at the moment though... it was quite clear who the third wheel was.

After about half an hour, I said g'bye to Maria and took off for a walk. Without knowing quite why, I realized that I was heading down town in the direction of the trailer park. Maybe it was because Maria had mentioned Hank's name, had said that Valenti was talking about him.

Which made it a very good idea that I DIDN'T actually go all the way to the trailer park, especially if one of Valenti's deputies might be following me. I swung onto East Hobbs and ducked into the path that led between two of the old houses in the middle of the block. Hid in a corner between one of those houses and the toolshed and waited to see if anyone came by. No-one.

I crept out again, looked around carefully, and then booted it down the path further. Just before rounding a turn I looked back... no-one in sight. Headed along at a good clip to the next bend in the path... by which time I was well into the little patch of woods, and repeated the whole routine by hiding behind a tree for two minutes. Still nothing.

Well, looked like no-one was tailing me at that. Still, now that I was on my way after a fashion, might as well head to the old hideout. I walked down the path until it started to look very dark and surprisingly far from civilization, angled back on a much rougher trail between the trees and bushes... rougher than it had been the last time I had gone this way by a considerable margin. I guess no kids were hanging out here any more.

Jumped down the four and a half foot high stone wall, headed towards the little nook formed by an overhanging tree and a concealing boulder... and stopped dead. Leaning against the boulder, chewing her bottom lip as she pondered something was... "Isabel?? What the hell are you doing here?"

She looked up and seemed just as surprised to see me as I her. "Hey, Michael. Just came her to check out something on our old wall of weird." She waved at the rock face here, and I remembered... the three of us, Max and Isabel and I, had spent days and days drawing on that rock... designs that we thought were cool, and treasure maps and secret messages and what have you. This had been one of the places I took off to when Hank was giving me grief, and it became a sort of unofficial clubhouse once all three of us discovered each other... though much less fun in the rain than a real clubhouse with a roof would have been, of course. Maybe a treehouse.

I looked up at the sheer stone face myself. Most of our masterpieces had been done in chalk, of course, or rocks we found in the area that made a mark when drawn against the stone, and they were long gone by now. Even the ones made with paint were fading or cracking away. But some had been carved into the stone itself, usually through a combination of hard work with a pocket knife and just a little usage of alien power, and it was to one of these that Isabel pointed. Sure enough, the weird-ass design of the week was right there. "Tri-gon," I muttered, none too happy to see it.

"I wonder what it means," Isabel muttered thoughtfully.

"Well, from what Max remembers of his dream, the three of us were at the points of the triangle," I said thoughtfully, touching them one by one. "Maybe that part does represent the three of us - that would make a little sense, at least."

"And the point in the center??" Isabel asked. "Nacero??"

"Could be, I guess," I shrugged. "If so... well, what does that mean? Is he our leader?? The center of us?"

"On the other hand... if you look at it differently," Iz traced the outer triangle with a finger... from point to point to point and back to the start. "Maybe we're enclosing him. Imprisoning him??"

"I dunno." I sighed loudly. "All of this alien heritage stuff... symbols and freaky dreams and what not... we can't begin to figure it out without a heck of a lot more to go on."

"Hence why we're going to Tess' place tomorrow," Isabel reminded me. "Figure out how she knows the trigon symbol, what else she might know."

"Don't suppose she's just going to tell us if we ask her," I sighed. Though, come to think of it, we'd never tried... stranger things have happened. "So... this thing tomorrow... any idea what the plan is??"

"What do you mean??"

"Well... who's gonna drive there with who?"

Isabel considered this a moment. "Better not to make it clear how tight a group we are... for the benefit of anyone who doesn't already know at least. Maybe go by couples??"

I sighed. "Okay, fine by me."

Iz smiled. "You wanna swing by the pizza place, pump a few quarters in the ol' Space Invaders machine??" She laughed at that, couldn't ever help but laugh when she even saw the game.

"Sure." I led the way back out. "Say, where's the old ball and chain, anyway??"

"What, Alex?? Family dinner night." I helped her up the ledge. "And Maria??"

"Early shift at the crash," I sighed.

* * * * *

MARIA:

"Okay... that is nine-thirty in three, two, one, NOW," I called out, looking over my shoulder at the big clock on the wall, "and I am outta here." Suiting action to word, I untied my apron and slapped it down onto the counter. "Catch you losers tomorrow... just kidding, hehe, and Liz??" She looked up at me, her eyes all serious. "Try to keep your hands off him. I know you're only human." I jerked my head towards the kitchen and giggled.

"Heh heh heh, very funny." Liz swatted good-naturedly at the little lock of hair that always falls down over my forehead since I started to let it grow out. "G'wan outta here, you cute little rat."

I picked the apron up, headed back behind the dining room to say my goodbyes to Michael in a slightly more, um, affectionate way, and decided not to bother changing until I had gotten home.

Mom hadn't come back to our place yet... another late night for her... too bad, but, well, at least I had the whole house to myself. I was about five minutes into my bubble bath when the phone started to ring... well, okay, maybe seven or eight. Still, I was only just started. That's the point.

I ignored it through four rings without even a pang of indecision. And then that's when the doubts started to hit. What if something horrible had happened?? Worse, what if something horrible was only just about to happen, maybe, and they needed my help for some reason to make sure that it didn't?!

I'd lost count of the rings when I finally got to the phone, and yeah... was still pretty wet and totally in the buff. "What is it??" I pretty much shrieked into the mouthpiece.

"umm, uh, nothing... important -- I guess," Alex said, clearly startled by my intensity. Oh, good one, Maria. Way to overreact, let your hyper imagination get the best of you. That REALLY helps.

"Umm... Alex," I muttered.

"Yep?"

"I'm... well, I'm kinda in the middle of something... literally. Can I call you back in -- twenty minutes??"

"Yeah, sure. You okay, Maria?"

I had to laugh. "Yeah, I'm fine, really."

About twenty-three minutes later, all bubbled out, dry, and all dressed up in an old t-shirt and my comfy bathrobe, I called Alex b... well, yeah, and the underthings too - what, have you got a dirty mind all of a sudden just because I had to talk about being, y'know, naked?? Fer gawd's sake...

Where was I? Right, calling Alex. We chatted for a bit about school and stuff, and then I asked him why he'd called me before.

"Umm, well, this is a little awkward, but..."

"Yeah, spit it out Whitman." Not said without friendly affection, I hasten to note for the record.

"Well, I've never really been invited to a pool party before..."

"I'm not exactly used to them either, but is that a problem? Embrace the new experience, little grasshopper."

Alex sighed at me, and I took the hint and let him finish. "Just this... as a guy..."

I couldn't resist. "Oh, thanks for clearing that up by the way, I was meaning to ask, but really wasn't sure how... okay, okay. Really shutting up now."

"What do I wear to something like this??"

I paused long enough to make sure that there wasn't anything more, then thought. "Well, nothing fancy, of course. A shirt of some kind, I'd tend to think a button-off but there's no good reason why it couldn't be a T I guess. As far as the rest... if you've got swim trunks that can do double duty as shorts, then you could just go like that... but I'd suggest you go with carrying the swim stuff there in a little duffel bag or something."

Another short pause. "Thanks... I think that helps."

"Say nothing of it. Oh, did you hear about the plan??"

"Ummm... no, what plan??"

"Just a showing up thing." Quickly I laid out how we were going to be arriving in pairs... Michael and I, Max and Liz, Alex with Isabel; so as to not seem to be suspiciously bunching together.

"Makes sense. And then what... are we poking around her place, or just waiting to let her play whatever she's got planned??"

"I'm not sure, but I think the second. We're doing the gambit thing, right?? I think that's what it means." Suddenly I had to chew on my tongue to keep from cursing... shouldn't really have said that kind of thing on the phone, should I? Well, I guess it's not really that incriminating, and what Alex had asked had been a little suspicious too. Was there some way to check for phone taps??

We chatted a bit more about stuff that didn't matter, and then Alex had to hang up suddenly, and I ignored my homework and spent a little time drawing color patterns with little triangles coming together to make squares and diamonds and what have you. When the phone rang again I wasn't sure what to expect. "Hello??"

"Answer me this, why the hell did I schedule myself in for the late shift on a Friday night??"

"Because you're a secret masochist," I told Liz. "And because it gave you plenty of time to hang out with your Maxxie-Waxxie before you had to clock in."

Liz laughed. "Hey, I hate to say this, but could you come by?? I feel the need to take a walk."

Ooh, that was code. She wanted to share about the Valenti thing and thought she had a plan to avoid being overheard. "Meet you in the usual place??"

"Got it. Ten minutes." And the line clicked off. Damnit, now I had to get dressed again.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	9. Part 3c

Maria, cont'd:

Well, Michael and I got the short straw... literally. (It was Liz's idea to actually draw straws to sort out who would arrive for the party when - the notion that spreading ourselves out was a good idea, on the low-key front.) Even though the 'short straw' was designated to mean arriving earliest, I didn't really mind.

I picked him up in the Jetta and headed off towards the address that had been on the invitation. "You..." I started, and then common sense asserted itself. "Never mind."

"We might as well get to it right away," Michael said with a laugh. "Otherwise you're probably going to stew, and wonder if you should have said something or not all day, and..."

"You'll get upset," I insisted. "It falls under the 'telling you how to live your life' category, which I've realized is a no-no."

"Well, then I won't take it seriously," he shot back. "Therefore, I won't get upset. C'mon, I'm curious what you were going to say - spit it out."

I took another turn, down a side street. "Okay, I was going to mention that you needed some wheels of your own." Michael laughed. "I know, I know, you don't really have much spare moolah, what with the whole independence thing and trying to pay all the bills on an after-school chef's job, but..."

"I wasn't laughing because of that," he assured me. "It's just so funny -- I've been thinking the very same thing myself lately."

Okay, that was a little too weird. "Seriously??"

"Yeah. Been wondering how to swing it - with the money thing, you know. Might find something that I can fix up cheap. I'm not bad with motors, though I'm not what you'd call a gearhead."

I smiled. "You have other talents." Right about then, I pulled up in front of 1872 Wyoming Avenue. It was one of these brand-new houses, I think the whole place was a pretty new development. Soon after I'd parked and we got out, the door open and Tess came running out to meet us.

"Oh gawd, everybody's showing up early," she said. Tess was definitely looking the part for hostess of a pool party... her hair all long and loose and golden blonde and curly and kinda windswept, a green bikini top with a light blue vest overtop as a cover-up (well kinda,) cut-off jean shorts and strappy sandals, the whole nine yards. "Well not everybody, and don't worry about it, it's okay. Nathan and Casey are here already, and now you too. Come on in, come in." She hardly gave us a choice, grabbing Michael and me by our arms and firmly leading the way.

Inside, the house was pretty impressive - large, well-lit rooms decorated first with reserved good taste and what looked like small objet's 'dart from faraway places, and also with some muted yet cheap party decorations. Sure enough, two guys were in the dining room, eating snacks and drinking some kind of florescent green punch out of little clear plastic glasses. I assumed that the thin boy with dark rimmed glasses and the dockers that didn't quite fit right was Nathan the math club geek, and that the blond hunk with the hawaiian shirt unbuttoned all the way and the nice biceps was Casey, the jock from the wrong side of the tracks.

"Casey, man," Michael said, confirming the last part as he nodded to Casey, then went over to help himself to some punch out of a big clear plastic bowl. "And you must be Nathan Williams, right??" The little guy nodded, and smiled a bit, and it was a nice smile. I revised my mental label of 'total nerd' as completely unfair and harsh: he seemed like a nice guy, pretty shy and totally overshadowed by guys like Casey. I kinduv knew how that felt.

Both guys seemed to be attracted to Tess, but as the second girl to show up, I felt a little attention too, which was weird, especially since I had come with Michael. (For the record, I wasn't dressed nearly as pool-party chic as Miss Harding - I was wearing a t-shirt and an almost knee-length skirt over my tank suit, and a light jacket on top of the shirt. You could probably catch a glimpse of a swimsuit strap through the t-shirt, but you'd have to be looking hard -- if you catch my drift.)

"Theresa??" The call was clear from more than one room away, putting a long EE pronunciation into the second e sound in Theresa... (not like the hispanic pronunciation.) "Come here please!!"

"Oops, that's my dad," Tess said quickly. "Excuse me."

All of a sudden, my hand reached out to catch her arm just below the wrist. "Oh, hey!" I said, trying to be bright and cheery about it. "Introduce me??" It wasn't like I was really *interested*... but Isabel's description of Tess' handsome father had definitely piqued my curiosity. I wanted to see Mister Tony Harding for myself.

Tess YANKED her arm away from me like my touch had burned her. "I... I don't th-think that would be a good idea right now," she stuttered, and then gave me an apologetic smile. "I think he's mad at me, and when he's mad at me it is NOT a good time to introduce friends. Maybe later??"

"Okay," I said, a little disappointed, and suspicious at the vehemence of her response. As Tess beat a quick retreat, I shuffled over to Michael and tapped on his arm, one touch followed by a pause and then two quick light strokes. I hoped that he'd get the message without seeming to. Dash dot dot in morse code is 'D' - he taught me that, and 'distraction,' 'diversion' both start with D.

He certainly did the right thing. "Hey, hey..." he said, gesturing with his hands and diverting both of the other guys' attention. "I have to ask... did either of you see Angel this week??"

"Oh, with the stake-mobile that guy was driving??" Nathan chimed in immediately. "And having to stake his own SISTER when he realized that she'd been turned??"

"I... well, I haven't tuned in in a few weeks," I heard Casey say as I hurried away. "What have I miss..."

I stopped paying attention as I got close to the landing. Okay, there was Tess, and there was a guy who looked like he could be her father... yeah, he's kinda cute, not really living up to all of the build-up, telling her off about some sort of papers or something, I can't really follow what's being said, and -- WHOA. Guys in blue suits there on the stairs. What's going on here? Is the FBI here to spy on all of us at the party? Or... or even to TRY something, something more active than just watching??

I hurried back, and pulled Michael halfway out of the heated discussion on the Faith plot arc and Buffy the vampire slayer's surprise crossover appearance. "Feds," I whispered in his ear. "Be careful of EVERYTHING."

He nodded, almost imperceptibly. "Come on," he said out loud. "You've gotta try this punch."

* * * * *

About half an hour later, the poolfest was in full swing. Most of the guest list had shown up, except for Max and Liz who were long straw and weren't due for about ten minutes more. Even Kyle Valenti had finally shown his face, walking in rather surprisingly with Kayla S... as in that the two of them seemed to be attending as dates. That threw me... even if Kyle had wanted to ask one of the single girls invited to the party to go with him instead of arriving stag and playing the field, I would think Valerie would be more his type... or at least, the type he would be interested in. Was this another aspect of his attempt to dig into our secret? No, still... Valerie's connection is with Isabel, and she's Max's sister, and it's Max that Kyle is obsessed with, or was obsessed with at least. Kayla's just an old friend of Liz and I, and Kyle already knows us kinda well. Ergh... who knows, maybe Valerie turned him down.

Speaking of Valerie, as soon as Isabel came in, the two of them started doing this totally freaky long-lost cheerleader thing, complete with the "oh my gawd"s. If Isabel was just playing along, then she was playing it more than a little over the top -- then again, for all I know, maybe she was really enjoying hanging out with an old friend again. Meanwhile, Valerie was totally trying to impress Tess and bring her into everything, and Isabel was trying to hide how awkward that was for her. The three of them stripped down to their bikinis, and it was like that was some sort of pre-arranged cue for the rest of us to head out to the pool area and get changed, if necessary.

The pool was impressive. Built into a room at the back of the house, it had to be sixteen feet wide by thirty long, four and a half feet deep at one end and descending to eight and a half at the other. The water was somehow cool enough to be especially refreshing against the desert heat that had started to settle on the town yesterday, but wasn't cold enough to be a shock. Soon Michael, Alex, Nathan and I were playing tag in the deep end, while the other girls were lounging in the shallower water and Kyle and Casey tossed a football back and forth on the deck next to them, apparently enjoying the view.

I was backing carefully away from Nathan (who was 'it' at the time,) when all of a sudden... well, I'm not going to try to describe it in sequence. The first thing I'm really clear on was trying to breathe a mouthful of water, which *should* give you the idea. I'm pretty sure that Michael and Alex hauled me out of the pool and Michael was about to give me mouth to mouth when I sprayed the pool water back into his face and started coughing violently, which kinda made it obviously unnecessary. (If I'd only known... but that isn't the point. Plus, I get to kiss Michael pretty often and I've been through enough first aid classes to know that mouth to mouth really isn't the same thing.)

"What... what happened??" Alex breathed in my ear, and that's when I started to piece it together myself. It hadn't been a flash... at least, not based on any of the descriptions that I'd heard from those lucky enough to get them, but it had definitely been a seriously weird moment. I'd had... well, kind of a premonition, not specific on TV like where they see something that's going to happen, just more of an unsettling sensation. Like... like there was some sort of subtle, but very real, danger lurking over all of us, over this place. And as well as that, there had been the very distinct impression that someone right here in this room wasn't what they seemed to be.

Well, duh... all of us knew that Tess wasn't what she seemed to be... nor were Michael or Isabel, come to think of it. But it hadn't felt like any of them were what I was sensing. Just great, someone else with a secret game plan lurking about.

"Ohmigawd Maria, what's wrong, what happened??" I looked up, conscious of how much a drowned rat I must look, to see Liz, looking frankly dynamite in a red tankini suit that I remember her wearing late last summer, but she'd grown into it since then.

"Ummm..." I didn't really feel like having to deliver another vague warning, especially since everybody already knew to be careful and ready for anything. "Just had a little leg cramp, no big deal. You look gorgeous!!"

"Max! Liz!!" Tess ran up behind them... (Max was there too, of course, though I don't think I'd noticed him until that second,) looking so gorgeous with her hair wet that I wanted to stab her for a second. "Come on, you've gotta try this lime punch."

"Yeah, I'd recommend it," Alex chimed in. "There's something that I can't quite put my finger on, but it's definitely great. Can I grab some seconds too??"

"Of course," Tess laughed. "We can mix up some more when that bowl is done." The four of them headed back towards the kitchen.

"Come on," Michael said, suddenly, (or so it seemed, maybe I was still a little disoriented,) putting his arms around me from behind. "I'll feel better if I know that you're on dry ground for a little bit." I suffered myself to be led away to a lounge chair a little ways from the pool, and Michael took the next seat. Soon we were playing with this odd little board game that had been left nearby, placing marbles into spots on a large diamond-shaped board and trying to form a path between the sides -- and each blocking the other.

"Watch out, gotta protect that corner," Isabel commented, walking up and indicating a particular region of the board."

"Hey, did I *ask* for your help??" I shot back. But because it was what I had been about to do anyway, I put down a white marble in what seemed like a strong defensive position and motioned for Michael to take his turn. "Having fun with your long lost sorority sisters??"

Isabel shot me a dark look. "Hey, I'm just playing the game here. Trying to keep Val from suspecting anything, trying to get Tess to let her guard down without really letting down mine. What have YOU done for us lately??"

I didn't want to get into the boys in dark blue, or the presentiment I'd had in the pool, so I just muttered "I'll tell you later," under my breath.

"Come on, no snide potshots," Michael warned both of us. "If you're going to fight, you're gonna have to REALLY do the chick fight thing and pull each other's hair and one of you is going to end up throwing the other, and herself, into the water." We both stared at him. "What, isn't that a pool party rule??"

I shook my head, and made a mental note to push MICHAEL into the pool if I got a good chance to get away with it.

* * * * *

MAX:

Kayla threw the round red ball in my direction and up, clearly meaning for it to pass straight over my head. If it got to its intended receiver, our strategic position would be tricky indeed. So...

Kicking up out of the water with all the power I could manage, I reached up high and just managed to brush the ball in mid-flight. I wasn't able to actually catch it, but I was able to affect its course, diverting it downwards and to the one side.

I fell back into the water, my head briefly going under, but once I'd surfaced again I could see Casey (who Kayla had been trying to throw the ball to,) and Liz converging on the precious projectile. Or rather, by the time I was watching, they had already converged, Liz had the ball, and was trying to throw it to one of our teammates.

I called out "Here!" and when Casey overcompensated to keep Liz from throwing in my direction, Liz got a good pass off to Valerie. I grinned at Liz and swam off towards the other side of the deep and to help press the attack against the blue team's defense, which consisted of Kayla and Kyle. (Liz stayed behind, she was part of our Red defense, ever watchful for the moment when the tides of water polo would shift against us.)

After our side had scored the next goal, Casey called a refreshments break and jumped out of the water, only drying himself off quickly before heading towards the kitchen.

"If you're after punch, Case," Michael called out after him, raising a glass in mock salute, "this is the last of it."

Casey reappeared an instant later. "Okay, then hand it over Guerin." He was about half kidding, as far as I could tell.

"Okay, come on, come on," Tess said, climbing up the ladder out of the pool herself. "No need for you boys to get violent, although you should have told me that you'd finished it Michael. I said that there was a second batch all ready to mix up, didn't I??"

"You seemed a litte busy," Michael said, pointing to the pool, where until a minute ago Tess had been as intense as anybody else about the water polo game.

"Touche. Well, I'm not now. Punch should be ready in a few minutes." And she turned to head towards the kitchen herself.

"We'll come with," Liz announced, taking my arm in her hand from behind me. "That is, unless the punch recipe is top secret??"

Tess laughed. "No secrets hiding in this house, Liz." Yeah, *right*! I could hardly even keep count of the secrets that I knew were being kept, to start with. Soon enough the three of us were in the kitchen, and I watched what Tess did to mix up the punch, while Liz engaged her in casual chitchat about school and what Tess thought of Roswell so far. A can from the freezer, which when opened and shook sufficiently hard, disgorged a big cylindrical lump of sticky green slush into the punch bowl.

A bottle of spring water that had been sitting on the kitchen counter got emptied into the bowl next, and suddenly I had to try and force myself to neither pay too much attention, turn away, or blush hard enough to be visible. Tess was stirring at the mixture vigorously, hacking off pieces of the green frozen punch mix with a wooden spoon, and with her skimpy two-piece suit, there were... parts of her body a little too prone to jiggle and quiver. I closed my eyes about halfway, assumed as much of an air of nonchalance as I could, and focused very hard on what Liz was saying.

"...well, there's the crash festival in late summer, of course, that's pretty much a must, and the Convention. I never paid much attention to that one before, except noticing when the convention crowd would pack the cafe, but last time I went and listened to some of the panel discussions. Because of Max's job at the center... you know..."

I opened my eyes at that point and verified that the danger of dying of embarassment seemed to have passed. I smiled over at Liz, and watched casually as Tess gathered more ingredients to go into her crystal cauldron. A single can of Sprite... (funny, I hadn't noticed any fizz in the punch, but that wasn't much carbonation spread around a full punch bowl I guess.) More bottled water, this time straight from the fridge. A little bit of honey, maybe a teaspoon and a half, squeezed from the plastic beehive-shaped bottle straight into the punch and mixed in thoroughly.

"This may not be a secret recipe," I mentioned at a pause in the conversation, "but it certainly seems fancier than anything we do for punch at my place."

Tess spun around in surprise, as if she'd forgotten that I was there, and smiled. "Yeah... this is the way my Mom always makes it... um, let's see." She concentrated as if finding her place again. "A tablespoon of concentrated lemon juice..." She went to the fridge to fetch that.

"Your mom?" Liz repeated, picking up on the reference. "Um, what's the deal with your mom anyway?? I kinda got the impression that it was just you and your father, here in Roswell."

"It is," Tess assured her, "for now at least. But they're not divorced or anything, it's just... her work. She was able to get a transfer to Santa Fe, that's as close to us as she can get for now, but the bad part is that they've got her so... so busy that I haven't even been able to talk to her." She paused a moment. "I really miss her."

"Hey, maybe soon you can go up to Santa Fe or something, and visit her there," I suggested.

"I asked her about that, but she's so busy she wouldn't hardly be able to see me. It really sucks." With that, Tess added the final touches to the punch - about four drops of vanilla extract and a little bit of raspberry syrup, and poured a little into a glass to taste. "Mmmm... perfect!"

"I have a thought," Liz announced. "Why don't we bring the punch bowl out by the pool instead of having everyone traipsing in here all the time? There's that little table by the window... and I'm sure everybody would be careful with the bowl."

Tess considered a moment. "Okay, cool." Soon Michael and I had carried the bowl in, and all twelve of us gathered around to toast the Harding family's move to Roswell.

As I raised the little plastic glass to my lips, it was like an explosion of pleasure in my mouth. Whatever that indefinable something had been about the first batch, there seemed to be about three or more times as much of it this time!!

"Oooh, that's great," I heard someone say. "Even better than the other glass," Isabel chimed in, and most of us made vague sounds of agreement.

I became aware of something... Liz was rubbing part of my back, near my left shoulder. (She was standing to my right.) The way her hand touched my bare skin, somehow all of my attention was fixated on that single feeling. I lifted up my right hand and started running it through her damp, but perfect hair.

Liz cooed softly in response and turned up to grin impishly at me. "Come on." And she dashed away, turning a somersault as she jumped into the pool, and turned around to face me again. "The water's FINE!!!"

And I hurried in after her, wrapping my arms around her in the cool water and bringing her lips to mine.

* * * * *

ISABEL:

"Okay," I muttered, stealing one last kiss from Alex, which turned into two, and three, and a heavy frenching session for several minutes before I was able to exert some willpower. "Come on, we don't have TIME for this now!! We're lost and we've got to find our way back."

Agreeably enough, Alex scanned our surroundings. "Well... what about if we head south..." and he pointed towards the setting moon, clearly visible against the pale purple sky, "past the ruined temple, and then bear east past the chocolate milk river?? If there's a way we can double back to the southwest along that path, maybe..."

"Maybe we'll find the station house that the cuddly little rabbit told us about," I finished. "Do you think that will help??"

"It will if the enchanted train goes from here back to Roswell," Alex assured me seriously. He took my hand and led the way.

(Now, in case you hadn't realized, it's vitally important that I didn't notice ANYTHING odd about the above conversation, or anything else really, at the time. I know that that might sound unlikely, but just... go with it. Things will eventually be at least a little clearer than they probably are now.)

So we headed downstream along the banks of the chocolate milk river, and eventually did find a path, although it was leading more south than southwest. "What do you think??" Alex asked me.

"It's worth a shot -- if it's dangerous and worst comes to worst, we can always *revert* back here." As we headed down the path, though... something strange happened. Walls sprang up out of nowhere, and suddenly I realized that I wasn't quite sure of the way that we had come. "It's a maze," I muttered, frustrated.

"Do you want to blip back?" Alex asked.

I stole a quick kiss from him, which became a long, drawn out one, and threatened to sidetrack both of us again. "Umm, no," I muttered after a moment. "We can always do that - might as well see what we can make of this place."

"Okay, ummm..." Alex considered a moment, took his punch glass and laid it down on the ground. "We'll start by following this wall," he said, waving to a particular barrier on his left, "and will be able to tell if we're following a loop because we'll come to the cup again."

"Hmm." That seemed reasonable enough, except... "What if there's someone else in here with us, and he moves the cup somewhere else??"

Alex shrugged. "We'll have to worry about that if it looks like it's happened. Nothing is foolproof."

I shrugged back, and we headed off. "So, do you think that the special unit is working for Krill??"

"Hmmm." Alex considered this weightily. "It wouldn't be the first time the dark warlock used ugly goons to do his dirty work for him. But... I dunno, somehow I don't think so. Doesn't smell like his style, if you catch my meaning."

"No, I suppose not," I conceded. "Just didn't want to have to accept the notion that we have two such powerful enemies to worry about."

"Yeah, I know." We walked along in silence for a few moments. "By the way, have I mentioned how much I like that bikini?"

I laughed loud. "No, not in so many words. Oh, hey!!" Ahead and to the right the maze seemed to lead out into a dark chamber.

"Are you sure we should move away from the left wall??" Alex asked me softly.

"It's a way that looks like it's going somewhere different," I told him. "We're following it." And we did, and found ourselves in a dark study lit by candles, with windows looking out over a forbidding moor on a stormy night, and already occupied by a number of colorful characters.

"But if Miss Fairfax had an alibi at the time of the murder," a bald man wearing a tweed suit announced to no-one in particular, "then who DID stab Benchley through the heart??"

"Who indeed?" Alex shot back without more than a few seconds' pause. "Maybe we'd better think about who else had motive and opportunity." He turned towards a handsome guy in his mid-twenties lying stretched out on a couch. "Now... you were involved in business with the deceased, were you not, Mister Thompson??"

"I... I was," Thompson agreed. "But if... if you're implying that that connection can be stretched into a motive for murder, you're crazy!! Our concern was doing well, and I don't stand to profit a cent from Jack's death. I'll have to share the profits -- and controlling interest -- with his daughter..." he glanced angrily across the room at a young girl, maybe fourteen, with dark curly hair and wearing a long white dress, "and take on all of the work myself!!"

"Are you implying something??" an older woman replied. "That Juliette is the one who is profiting from this ghastly disaster?? The poor dear has just lost her only living relative!!"

"Now... I hate to say it," I mentioned, "but that's a point. If Juliette stands to inherit everything," I nodded at the girl sympathetically, "and she's not yet of age, then who will be her legal guardian until she's twenty-one?? Whoever that is, will control the estate for seven years, wouldn't he? Or she??"

"Why, that'd be a matter for the circuit justice to decide, wouldn't it??" the bald guy muttered. "I suppose you could hazard a guess, though, couldn't you, Lynche? Being a barrister and all, that is." He nodded towards another man, tall and somehow magnetic, who had been standing in the shadows.

"Um, er, well..." Lynche (presumably the shadowed man was he,) jumped slightly and thought. "I don't know, but I suppose the next of kin might well me... Missus Banley." Someone gasped, but I couldn't quite tell who. "The dead man's divorced second wife."

All eyes turned to stare at someone behind me, another woman of motherly age. "But... surely you aren't accusing ME of killing Jack. I was with my daughter all afternoon." She indicated another girl, younger, only five or six, with light hair.

I was thinking of a reply to that when Alex went up to the man in the shadows. "Wait a second... you aren't barrister Lynche at all, are you??" he demanded, and ripped at the man's face. It came off, leaving a scarred visage behind. "You're an impostor!!"

The scarred man hissed in astonishment at having been found out and covered his face partly with his hands. "Yes, I am, I am... but I'm not the murderer. I only came here and took Lynche's place to watch over the girl."

"Which girl??" I called out. "Why should we believe you, if you've been hiding your identity from everyone here all along. Who, not to put too fine a point on it, ARE you??"

"And who are you, harlot??" Juliette cried out, charging forward and looking at my clothing... or rather, the substantial lack of it, pointedly.

"Umm... well, uh, my name is Isabel Evans," I muttered, suddenly embarrassed. "Sorry that I'm not dressed suitably, I was at a pool party... been trying to get back to it, actually." Something about that started to nag at me. How exactly had we left the pool party and gotten embroiled in these strange puzzles?? It hadn't seemed unusual at the time, but...

"Don't worry, Iz," Alex said, taking a sip of his punch. "We'll get back there."

The punch. Alex had set his punch glass down in the maze, empty, but now he was clearly drinking from an almost brimming plastic glass of vibrant green punch. Something was very wrong here, and it was starting to dawn on me what it was.

"We never... we never left the party," I mumbled, disbelieving, and the candlelit study began to swim before my eyes. I blinked furiously, and reality started to reassemble again. At least, SOMETHING started to reassemble again -- I told myself that I wouldn't take it on faith or at face value.

But what I saw didn't seem too unlikely. It was a room, a den of some sort, and Alex and I were sitting on a couch. Alex was drinking punch, his glass almost empty, rubbing the small of my back with one hand, and mumbling something that I couldn't really make out under his breath... something about the cultural significance of donkey kong, if I made it out at all, which I couldn't be sure about. Just a few steps away was a computer, still on, its screen mostly full of lines of text. Okay, was this reality?? And if so, what was the connection between it and everything that I dimly remembered that was definitely NOT reality??

"The punch..." I whispered. There were two more punch glasses in the room, and empty one set on the floor, next to the base of the couch, between us, and one about a quarter full, on an end table just past my end of the sofa. I remembered how everybody had been so wild about the first batch of punch, and how that hadn't even seemed remarkable at the time. I realized that it was about the time that we'd started on the SECOND batch that everything had gotten vague.

"It's drugged." As I said the words, cold fear ran through my body and reality threatened to swim away again. I wasn't sure if the fear was affecting my state of mind, making me more vulnerable to the drug or if it was the concept of losing my tenuous grasp on what was real that was causing the fear. I looked at Alex, clearly much less coherent than I was. I had no idea where anybody else was or what was happening to them, or even where we were beyond the presumption that we were still in Tess Harding's house.

"What do I do now??"

As the words hung in the air, I looked around, and noticed something new. A man, standing at the door... a man in a somber blue suit.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!


	10. Part 3d

MICHAEL:

"Okay, gotta think, gotta think hard, gotta concentrate on what's really going on," I muttered to myself, swaying slightly. "Gotta concentrate on not falling on my ass as well."

I wasn't really sure what I could remember. A lot of hazy stuff was sitting there in my memory that pretty much had to be imaginary, or hallucinatory, or some kind of trick... or whatever. Extended lord of the rings' fight sequences, a ride on a Saturn rocket, a kinda fun journey across the Mexican plains running ahead of revenge-crazed smugglers. Also a lot of pretty steamy stuff with Maria that I wasn't sure if it was real at its core or not, once the fantastic settings were stripped away. I think that the more X-rated stuff was probably hallucination, but we had almost certainly been kissing and making out while fogged up.

That was it!! We had to be both drugged or under the influence of something. Right now Maria and I were both in some sort of garden or terrace -- probably the Harding's back yard, though it was impossible to be sure. She was still sitting on the loveseat that I had just got up from.

Okay, what was the last thing that I I was reasonably sure was real?? The pool party... Maria and I had been watching the water polo game, and then... the second batch of punch. That must have been where it started -- we had fallen into the pool, kissing, and... at some point had washed up on the shores of the Grey havens. So that was definitely fantasy.

I was still feeling disoriented and dizzy, (and a few other d words as well maybe, but no need to get into them right now...) but I wanted to try and tackle the situation immediately. "Come on," I muttered, turning to Maria, and flailing wildly for the armrest of the love seat to keep from losing my balance.

"But the depth charges are looking for us, Guerin!!" she exclaimed, grabbing my other wrist with her right hand. "We've got to stay below two hundred feet... and WAIT them out!!"

"Submarines," I muttered. "That's probably a fun one! Well -- we can stay two hundred feet below, but let's be two hundred feet below over there, okay??" I pointed towards the porch, which wasn't far away, but which I somehow still couldn't see too clearly... I think that whatever drug it was and the bright sunlight were combining to do a number on my eyes... things were a little fuzzy and odd colors obscured the real things that I knew were there - that was probably a lingering trace of the hallucinatory effect - I was lucid enough that it couldn't make full scenes and visions for me, just faint traces of color. "Wonder how long that's going to last," I muttered.

We made it about a third of the way down the yard without much incident. The first incident was that Maria all of a sudden gets REALLY affectionate. Normally a good thing, but these were not normal circumstances. I'd already come to the conclusion that one of the effects of this mystery drug was a de-inhibitant, or whatever the correct term is. If we got back into a major makeout session, I could be distracted for who knows how much longer. (Maria was obviously not coherent at all, herself -- maybe the drug didn't affect me as much as an alien.)

So, well, I kissed her back for about ten seconds just because, and then tried to keep her wandering hands off me, wishing very much that I could return the favor. After a few minutes she started rambling on about finding the mountain fortress of the Hawk people, and that seemed to distract her from the smoochey gropey.

Everything seemed to be a huge challenge for me now, and not just because I was helping along a beautiful girl who was absolutely zonked out of her gourd. The muscles of my legs and arms, which had acclimated reasonably well to walking across the more or less level ground of the yard, seemed now to be completely at a loss when faced with the two steps up to the back deck.

I ended up falling down at this point, and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try scrambling up the stairs on all fours, which worked reasonably well, and encouraging Maria to follow me up, which she did with something of an appealingly lithe slither. For many long seconds I think I was lost in the way the contours of her cleavage moved, revealed by her simple swimsuit, but I shook myself and rose back to my feet, and spent about two minutes trying to figure out how to brace myself to exert enough force to push the patio door open. (I didn't think it was locked, but was just hard to arrange myself for a sufficiently effective shove without losing my balance first.)

Finally I got the door open, but I *did* lose my balance at the same time, and for a second thought that I was back in a hallucination, facing a killer plant, but it was a perfectly ordinary plastic tree that was sitting on the deck. I helped Maria up and together we stepped through the door into the house. "I hope that this really is the Harding house," I mumbled to myself worriedly.

That particular concern was unfounded, at least... after stumbling through a small media room, we were back at the indoor pool. Even if there could possibly be two pool rooms furnished in exactly the same way, I could see Kyle Valenti and Kayla kissing in the water -- and more than kissing, indulging second base with a remarkable intensity. Yeah, this stuff definitely lowers inhibitions.

"Michael!!" I spun around, and had to squat down slightly to keep from knocking my head against the type. It was Valerie, with an intoxicated look on her face and a glass of punch in each hand, one half full and the other brimming. "Come on, you don't have a drink!!" She extended the full cup towards me.

I didn't make a move to take it. Unfortunately, Maria did. Since I was working - well, trying to work - on the assumption that the punch was the source of the drug... **If Maria drinks any of that, she's going to get even higher.** Which was not what either of us needed at this point.

I tried to block the two of them from coming together, Maria and glass, but she was eager and neither of us were too well co-ordinated, and somewhat predictably the sticky green liquid ended up all over both of us. "Now look what you did!!" I wasn't sure if the active chemical could be absorbed through skin at all, but there was an easy solution to THAT. I pushed Maria into the pool and dived in myself, (we were both still in our swimwear,) and cleaned the spill off my chest, then did a little of the same for Maria. Not letting my hands wander too far down, of course, if only because we couldn't afford the distraction that would certainly lead to.

After a minute, I climbed up out of the pool, leaving Maria there for the moment - she seemed to be floating around happily, and for this I might need all of my attention. I hurried over to the still half-full punch bowl and, trying very hard not to let it spill, carried it back into the kitchen and dumped all of it down the sink. As it swirled down the drain, I realized that I felt a little thirsty, so I found a glass, filled it up with cold tap water, and drained it in one long swallow. Hey, that felt good. More than that, it seemed to clear my mind a little bit.

"Come on, Maria," I said a minute later, helping her up out of the pool, the water running in rivulets over her smooth skin and dripping down to the the ground. (Down boy!!) I led her into the kitchen and gave her water to drink too, two full glasses until she wouldn't drink any more. I had a glass and three-quarters more myself.

"Okay, where to now??" Maria asked. I blinked in surprise, at a question that seemed to almost make sense. After a second, though, she answered her own question. "The pacific heights club, I think... pretty sure I can get us in, and Sarah will be there." Now, who the heck was Sarah??

"More to the point, where are Max and Isabel, and the rest??" I asked myself. All of a sudden, I had an image of Isabel and Alex disappearing up the stairs, laughing and kissing. Was that a real memory or just my imagination??

Well, it was a place to start, at any rate. I struggled to remember where the stairs were, and it wasn't too long before we found them. Along the way, I made the discovery that Maria was starting to get better at the manual co-ordination thing than me, though she still didn't have any clue what was really going on. I just had to tell her to go up the stairs and off she went like nothing was at all unusual. It took me a little longer to perfect a sustainable lumber, but finally I got to the top.

When I got there, I realized that Maria was being confronted by a somewhat severe-looking man in a suit. (Special unit?? He could very well be... but even if they were part of the unit, why did Tess and her father have so many blue-suit guys in their house?? They had to be on deep cover, and guys like this one tended to blow the cover.)

"What the hell are you two doing here??" he growled.

I looked to Maria, but she didn't seem too likely to come up with any burst of colorful imagery at the moment. It would be better if he thought we were entirely under the influence, I realized suddenly. The whole drug thing seemed very much to smack of a strange special unit ploy and even if not, he'd deal with me differently if he thought I was intoxicated, which just might give me some kind of edge.

"We... we have to get to the crow's nest!!" I blurted out. "Do you want to come too??"

Blue-suit scowled. "No, thanks very much." He pushed past me and headed down the stairs. Maria shrugged at me and ran off, giggling.

It didn't take me long to search the second floor... large bathroom, master bedroom, an office full of odd diagrams on blackboards, whiteboards, and greenboards, at which Nathan was quietly staring, an expression of total awe on his face. One room was completely empty and unfurnished... next to it was a lounge or gaming room of some sort, with a computer. And a second bedroom, in which Tess and Casey were kissing. I didn't interrupt them - finding the rest of *our* peeps was the priority here, and I still wasn't sure what to expect from Tess.

I ran into Maria again in the hallway, and she stage-whispered and pointed. "What about there??" I looked, and realized that there was a very innocuous door in the hallway that I hadn't noticed. I tried the small switch -- locked.

"You've got to force the door and pick the lock," Maria urged me. I guess I would - in my own way. Checking to make sure that no-one else had come into the hallway, I put my hand over the lock and concentrated.

There was a burst of light, a pattern of soot appeared over the door, which swung open, knocking Maria and I to the floor. I hadn't meant to open it that way, but at least it got the job done. (Mental note, don't try to use my powers again while doped.) I stuck my leg out to make sure that the door didn't swing back shut, and helped Maria up. She headed through the door and up the stairs beyond, and I followed again. There was a short scream.

"Maria, wow, you made it up here too??" I hurried up after Maria, recognizing the voice. "Ahh. Hey, Michael," Isabel said, nodding slightly as my head came into view.

"We were going to go looking for you in a bit," Max mentioned. He and Isabel were sitting in the middle of a small, crowded attic, sorting through papers and other stuff out of boxes. Alex and Liz had been parked on nearby old armchairs. "As soon as we finished figuring out what's what here."

* * * * *

ISABEL:

I froze for a second at the sight of the obvious intruder. Obvious *Special Unit* intruder... let's not mince words, after all. It was becoming apparent that the blue-suit look was their official uniform - not that we could afford to expect that they would always show up in team colors for our easy identification.

I swayed in place a bit, my balance still a little bit off from whatever had just happened to me. The guy in blue relaxed a little, watching me closely.

Well... I'd have to do something at this point. He didn't seem interested in anything beyond... watching us. Wait a second, did that make sense?? This stuff from the punch, it seemed to lower our inhibitions. Was that the point? To bring down our guard and see what happened next??

It sounded like it fit. And if so, what I had to do was obvious. Pretend to be as looped out as possible -- and give nothing away.

"What are *you* doing here, Binky??" I asked in my best little girl voice. And slowly, tentatively, I reached out and squeezed the guy's nose, as if it were a rubber horn that I expected to honk.

The look on his face was priceless, and I didn't even try to control the spasm of helpless giggling that went through me. That just made him frown further, and he turned and stormed away. I hurried back to Alex. "Come on, we've gotta find the others," I whispered to him.

"The 'others', no, we're not ready to meet the others," Alex mumbled. "Don't know enough about them, we don't know what they want. Gotta do more research first... the galactic archives. If we can just find out their secret identity..."

Okay, it sounded like he wasn't coherent enough to talk to this way. On impulse I leaned down and french-kissed him very emphatically, for about thirty seconds or more. "You want more?" I teased. "Come with."

That, somehow, got through to him, as I had guessed it would. I led the way out of the room and down the hall, looking around for Max or Michael... or Maria or Liz, as far as that went. The man in blue was standing further down the hall, but groaned and disappeared out of sight as if afraid that I'd pinch his nose again. Most of the rooms here seemed to be empty, except for a study, in which Nathan was writing furiously on a whiteboard with a dry-erase marker, odd notations all around him on other boards of various types. "What are you up to?" I asked... it was meant to be a whisper, but I guess I either said it out loud or he had good hearing, because he turned to me.

"I've almost worked out the unified species theorem," he announced. "If you reduce the gene sequence patterns into numbers in the base four system, then all that you have to do is search for hybridizations that are compatible on a quadratic and multi-polynomial basis!!"

"Uh, all right," I muttered. Some of that sounded interesting, but we weren't in the correct state of mind to determine if there was anything real to it or just dope genius, so better not to get involved at the moment. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and took Alex and backed away. It was Tess and Casey... looking very affectionate, and not paying any attention to anybody else. I watched as they hit first and second base at the same time, standing there on the landing.

"I don't understand why I feel this way," Tess groaned, a puzzled look on her face. "And why you??"

We hurried away, Alex leading the way to a particular door in the hallway, and we rushed through. For no very good reason I could think of, I locked the door with my powers and sealed it shut. There were stairs there, and I led the way up.

Beyond was a cramped and full room. Max and Liz were lying on the carpeted floor, hands wandering, her hair falling across his head. "Max!!" I exclaimed.

Max looked up, shook his head a little in shock, and started to button up his big shirt. "How are you," I said, rushing over to him, "are you delirious, or are you with me??"

He shook his head again. "I'm... I'm feeling a little odd, but I don't think that I'm completely out of it," he decided after a moment. "How can you tell?"

"You sound like you're doing about as well as I am," I said. "The punch was drugged... lowers inhibitions and makes you hallucinate. I think we're not as badly affected as... as our sweeties." I gestured to Liz and Alex, both of whom seemed pretty out of their gourds.

"Oh man," Max groaned, "this was it. This was what Tess was planning."

"I'm not sure about that," I put in. "Tess seemed to be pretty out of it herself. I think it's the special unit. They were talking, in Terahertz, about how the pool party would be the right time to make the move. I overheard them. But they were upset that she'd planned the whole thing too."

"Overheard them..." Max groaned. "Can you... do your little trick here? See if anyone might be listening in up here??"

Oh... I hadn't even thought of that - which was probably the drugs again. I focused, but using my powers as a detector seemed much more difficult than using them as a tool downstairs. "I... I'm not sure," I mumbled. "Don't think so."

"Well, we can try to be careful, but we need to plan," Max mumbled. "Did you see any sign of Michael or Maria?"

"No, but we haven't been downstairs," I admitted. "I was on the second floor when I snapped out of the fantasies... game room. Explored them a little, then came up here. There was a blue-coat guy watching, but I don't think he realized that I wasn't doped up to the gills. Your friend Nathan was working on weird math equations in the study... sounded like it might have something to do with us. Bringing the species gap together. And Tess was making out with Casey."

"Hmmm," Max thought about that. "Ummm... okay, we might as well sit tight for now and see if this stuff starts to wear off."

"What about Michael and Maria?" I asked. Max frowned, and I knew that he didn't see any obvious solution to the whole situation.

"Tri-gon," he blurted out suddenly.

"What the hey??" I groaned. "I mean, I know about the tri-gon, but how does it relate here??"

"I'm not sure," Max admitted. "But it does... I can't say how I know that."

I frowned, and helped get Alex and Liz into chairs. "Man, why does this sort of thing keep happening to us??" I complained. Max shot me a look. "Oh, yeah... right. *That*."

"I know what you mean, though... we really do deserve a little uncomplicated fun," Max agreed. "Got any ideas??"

"Do you suppose they have FBI special agents at Six Flags??"

All of a sudden, the door rattled down the stairs. Max turned to stare at me. "I locked the door and sealed it," I muttered. All of a sudden there was a soft BAMM, and the sound of a door swinging open. Then the sound of someone, or more than someone, climbing up the stairs. Max held out his hand, ready to do something to defend us.

Maria popped into view, climbing up the stairs on all fours, and screamed. "Maria, wow, you made it up here too??" I asked. "Ahh. Hey, Michael."

"We were going to go looking for you in a bit," Max blurted out. "As soon as we finished figuring out what's what here."

* * * * *

MAX:

"More??"

"Come on, you gotta really CHUG it, Maxwell," Michael urged me, pointing to the old glass full of cool tap water I was holding. "It, like, it washes the drug out of your system or something, I dunno. The point is, it helps, but you gotta work it."

I sighed, downed the glass, and groaned. "Okay, now I still feel disoriented, and I have to piss."

"Well, at least you don't have to sit on that toilet seat," Isabel pointed out. "Just make sure you don't miss the bowl."

"Very funny," I muttered. I managed to use the facilities without incident, and by the time it was done I really did feel a little better. Maybe psychological, imagining that I was flushing the foreign agent out of my system.

"So... what's the next move??" I asked, walking out of the little bathroom all put back together.

"All six of us are together now," Isabel pointed out. "We get the hell out, together. None of us should really be driving in this state, but we can just walk away, and come back when we're coherent for the wheels."

"And the boys in blue will just let us leave?" Michael asked. "I doubt it... not unless we catch them some hell of off guard, at least."

"I don't want to leave without trying to learn something about the tri-gon," I put in. Reluctantly, Michael and Isabel nodded.

"That means that Tess is our only lead," Michael decided. "She put the tri-gon design on the invitations... and how the hell did she know anything about it?" He frowned. "Now, both Isabel and I saw Tess making out with Casey."

"We have to be careful with her," I warned. "She's implicated in the drugged punch - she was the one to mix it up after all."

"But it would be easy for the special agents to taint the ingredients without her knowing," Isabel pointed out. "The bottled water maybe. And she drank from the punch just like the rest of everybody. She seems more looped than we are."

"Which might be just an act," Michael muttered ominously.

"The prenomition!!" Maria blurted out suddenly.

We hurried over. "What... what are you talking about?" Isabel asked. "Can... can you follow what we're saying??"

Maria's face contorted into thought. "I... I'm standing here on the diving board," she said after a moment. Well, I guess that answered that. But... "When we were playing hide-and-seek in the lake," she continued, "I had a flasher. Someone... someone at the ball isn't who they smell like. Nasedo."

"Nasedo... do you mean Nacero?" I asked. It took a moment, but we got the matter sorted out as well as could possibly be expected.

"If Nacero is here at the party... he could be anybody," Isabel muttered. "We don't even know if he can assume female forms or not."

On that disturbing note, we headed back down the stairs. Having heard from Michael and Isabel about the difficulties in helping their sweeties along, I was glad that there didn't seem to be any problem getting Liz and the others to move... they'd all been given tap water to drink, and it seemed to be helping them too.

I led the way out of the door and around to Tess' bedroom. I was worried about what might be going inside... clothes off, heavy foreplay, all of that, but it wasn't the case. Tess and Casey weren't even kissing any more, just lying on her bed, his arms around her, a look of trance-like happiness on her face, both of them with their eyes closed. They were both clothed... well, as much as you'd expect for a pool party.

"Come on, wake up call!!" I bellowed, charging into the room, grabbing Tess' shoulder and yanking her roughly away from the teenage boy's embrace. I hadn't really meant to start like that, it just... occured to me, and all of a sudden I was doing it! I guess I wasn't really over the uninhibitive effects of the drug yet.

"What the..." Tess' eyes seemed to focus on me, but who knew what she thought she was staring at. "Aquaman! I'm not the one who put the spell on you!! I'm under the web myself, can't you see?"

"Don't bother about that now," I growled. "The trigon. The symbol. What does it mean? How do you know about it??" She looked at me blankly. In frustration I grabbed a sheet of paper and a tube of lipstick from her dresser. There was something written on pen in the paper, I couldn't make it out at a glance and didn't really want to, but I flipped it over to the other side, that was blank, and sketched out the tri-gon design on it, putting slight circles at the four points, each corner and the center. "What the hell is this??"

"Noblest purpose in the history of the land," she babbled incoherently. "First one was sent, but he had never been born. He couldn't speak the language, he couldn't vibe to the culture. So he was cast out by the shapeless ones, a failure. A criminal. Then three were bridged across the gap... foundlings. Elven childer. To --"

"This is getting us nowhere," Michael pointed out.

"Round up the supporting characters!!" Maria burst out. "We have to find HIM... the changing and changeless one, the killer for cars."

"How will gathering everybody help?" Isabel asked.

"I'll know!! At least... I think I might see. If all the usual suspects... in a police lineup, wouldn't anyone be able to see the odd one out?"

"But they're all different," I said.

"If Maria says she can do it, I say we give her her shot," Michael said, and he grabbed Casey from the bed. "Come on. Isabel, you take little miss FBI over there."

We moved on through the house, rounding up all the other invitees. Nathan was still in Tess' father's office, asleep. Valerie, Kyle, and Kayla seemed to be playing an odd form of hopscotch, or maybe Calvinball, out on the deck.

"Okay... who is it??" Isabel asked Maria, once we had the five of them more or less lined up. Maria frowned.

"I can't differentiate the quotient!!" she wailed.

"Now, what the fe-duck is this hall about??" Casey demanded, storming out of place. The three of us started to surround him. I noticed two boys in blue watching us from the doorway to the pool area. "You can't bold us here forever!!"

Suddenly Liz, standing right next to be, gasped. "Max!! It's your dream," she said, fairly sensibly.

I looked around, trying to figure out what she meant, and then it came together. The trigon formation... we were acting it out right now... Isabel, Michael, and me, at the points of a triangle. Casey was right in the very center of the triangle. Liz was standing near me, Maria near Michael, Alex near Isabel... and Tess stood outside the triangle.

"Little slow on the uptake, aren't you, hotshot??" Tess drawled, as if hypnotized.

How the hell... that was the line of dialog she had spoken in my dream... this made no sense! But most importantly...

"It's you!" I said, to Casey. "You're Nacero, the visitor!! Where did we come from??"

He turned slightly to look me in the face. And then he was gone, in a blur of motion, knocking the two FBI special agents over before they even realized he was coming. Michael and I raced out after him, right out the front door of the Harding house... by which point I was sure that he didn't even look like a man anymore.

Nacero jumped into a car parked right at the foot of the driveway, the motor gunning before his ass had landed in the seat, and streaked off. I didn't think it was a good idea for either of us to chase after him in cars at this point.

"What do we do now??" Maria asked, coming up to the front door behind us.

I sighed. "Anyone hungry? I think there's a Tex-Mex place right down the street."

END OF SECTION THREE -- TO BE CONTINUED...


	11. Part 4a: Liz Parker sub one

Section Four - Liz Parker, sub one

Part 4a

(Liz Parker's diary, edited after the fact.)

I came out of the drug-induced fog sitting with all the others, in a Mexican food eatery about a block and a half away from Tess' place. It took them quite a few tries to tell me, Maria, and Alex all that had happened at Tess' party after people had started the second, highly doped, batch of punch. Having to whisper, and the fact that Max, Michael and Isabel didn't seem to remember all the details clearly, and would disagree with each other on particular points, didn't help.

"I, I can't believe this," Maria said, starting to hyperventilate. "Drugged punch, laced with something that doesn't even match up with all of the things that my Mom warns me about. An alien shapeshifter impersonating the football player guy. Freaky guys in dark uniforms just standing there and watching. I... I'm sorry, it's just getting to be a little too much."

"I understand," Max replied softly. "I wouldn't object if you wanted to associate less with us, but as we've discussed, it's not clear how much that would help you with these people by now. It's not fair and it's too much to deal with, but we have probably each been targeted, and we need to play the game and find some way to play it better than everybody else, or lose everything that we care about."

There was a long, awkward moment of silence after Max whispered that. It was Isabel, finally, who spoke. "Well, any idea what our next move is??"

Another short pause, and Michael jumped in. "I say we go up and see 'our friend.'" It took me a second to place the reference -- Topolsky. "Taking all reasonable precautions... but she's a resource to us now, and an associated part of our team. She may see something that none of us can."

There was an uncomfortable tentative agreement to that, and then we dropped all the conspiracy business and tried to just look like a bunch of teenagers, friends, hanging around together and grabbing dinner at a fast food dive. Pretty soon, I was even fooling myself.

* * * * *

Okay, this is a long entry, but bear with me. I want to record everything as well as I can while this is fresh in the brain cells.

It was early this morning (Sunday,) when Max and Isabel picked me up in the Jeep, again with the emphasis on casual. Izzie and I chatted about the most unimportant things we could think about as Max went off to pick up Alex, and then it was west out of town, heading for the reservation.

Max got very serious for a second just as we left the city limits. He nodded to Isabel, who started doing her new 'sensor sweep' trick all around.

She stopped after a little while, (maybe ninety seconds,) and stayed quiet, thinking. Max looked over at her a few times, and then burst out with "well?"

"I'm not entirely sure," she admitted. "There's a lot of complicated electronic equipment in the car anyway, and I'm far from expert in all of it that belongs here. Nothing seems to be broadcasting, at least, nothing coherent enough to be picked up any decent distance away. As far as bugs that might be recording us 'silently' to be read later in some fashion... that's tougher. But I can't see anything that's 'looking' or 'listening' to us particuarly, for whatever that's worth."

"I think it's enough," Alex sighed. "I guess even with your, umm, talents, there aren't any easy answers, are there? Trying to strive for perfect security is really only good for making yourself crazy."

"Maybe so," Isabel agreed slowly. "Doing without 'acceptable' security is just plain being stupid... but I think we have that. Only... Be on the watch out for any suspicious characters hanging round the jeep, okay Max??"

"Um, sure," he agreed. "So... well, I have to admit, I've pretty much given myself a headache, trying to guess what Tess' motives are. She... she's human, I'm convinced of that, but seems to feel like she has a right to be sympathetic about aliens, and us in particular, even though none of us have ever confided in her about what we are. There are connections all over the place between Tess and the special unit, but..." He frowned, trying to figure out what it was that was bugging him. "She doesn't seem to *like* them, or what they're doing. She doesn't say it straight out, or refuse them anything outright, but..."

"Maybe they're threatening her or something," I said, a little tentatively. "To get her to play ball. Or..." A connection hit me at that moment. "Or maybe threatening someone close to her, like her *Mom* off in Santa Fe that she was careful to mention to us!"

"Hmmm." Alex thought about that. "Maybe. It seems to fit, everything back to when Topolsky first spotted her and her father. Except, why would they go to so much trouble? What makes Tess special? They probably don't have a lot of agents who can believably pass for being in high school, true, but I'd imagine there's probably a few. They could find someone with all of Tess' obvious qualifications who didn't have to be coerced into the job, or do without."

"Unless her prime recommendation for the job was something that *isn't* obvious," I finished. "Hmm."

"I'm not at all sure that you aren't leaping to very tenuous connections," Isabel pointed out. "Maybe Tess is doing exactly what the Special unit want her to, whether that's confusing us, cultivating us... or something else."

"You have a point," Max allowed. "The part that's kinda freaking me out, I have to say, is that at the party, while she was presumably under the influence of the punch... she went and made out with Nacero. Now, probably she didn't know who he was, and maybe he was trying to find out more about her, just like we are... but it just seems really strange, doesn't it??"

"Yeah, kinda," I said. We drove on in silence for a fairly long time.

"Something, I have to admit, has been nagging at me for a little while," Alex said eventually. "Max, at the end of the pool party, after you'd figured out that Casey was really Nacero -- you asked him where you all come from, right??"

"Uhh, yeah," Max replied. "I thought none of you really remembered that part."

"It came back to me after I went home yesterday. Now, I realize that you meant the question in a kind of cosmic way... what star, what galaxy your people are from, that kind of thing. But I started thinking about it a little more directly... as in, where you came from just before you ended up wandering in the desert, getting picked up by various people. It's pretty clear that if you'd been left in the ship after it crashed, the only place you'd have grown up would probably be some top-secret government lab, but that's obviously not the way it happened. Liz said that you mentioned something about incubation pods... do any of you know where they are??"

"Not precisely, no, though it's something that's occured to us before," Max said, looking over at Isabel, who nodded slightly. "The memories we have that go back that far are extremely vague... more like the faintest possible impressions than reliable recollections. Michael mentioned something to me about tunnel or cave walls, and Isabel talked about poking her hand back into the pod and feeling something gooey still inside. I don't really remember any more than coming out from someplace dark and seeing the stars for the first time." He sighed.

"Even though we know we walked a long way, from the areas we were picked up, it had to be somewhere north by notheast of town," Isabel said. "Which was pretty much the region where whatever it is crashed in 1947. That's as far as we've got."

"Even when we were young and Michael was kinduv obsessed, we spent more time looking for the ship or government facilities than trying to rediscover our incubation pods," Max admitted. "If they'd kept us safe for --- well, for more than forty years, they had to be pretty well hidden. And none of us seemed to have any memories that were helping to lead us back there."

I nodded, and they were silent, though Alex had a familiar pensive expression on his face. Suddenly he burst out, "'How many years did Max, Michael, and Isabel have to stay in their incubation pods?' A candidate for the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything? Huh?? A long shot I know."

"What the hell are you blabbering about?" Isabel shot, then instantly melted. "I'm sorry, honey, just kind of getting nervous about talking about all of this stuff, and I didn't understand what you meant. I'll try to keep from biting anybody's head off like that again today."

"Umm, okay," Alex said after a moment. "I know it was a bad joke... in 'Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy', they find out that the ultimate answer in the Universe is 'forty-two', and there's a lot of fuss and speculation about what the question actually is. When Max said 'more than forty years', I stated doing the math in my head, and kinda got carried away when I realized it was coming out to forty-two."

"Actually, a little less than forty-two, sad to say," Max admitted. "The crash was in July of '47, and we came out more like early May of '89. Forty-one years and about ten months."

"Too bad," I sighed. It's strange, but on some level I thought that would help to protect Max and the others, if it had been so important, cosmically, for them to be 'born' the way they were.

We got to the cave about then, and found River dog and Topolsky, Michael and Maria all waiting for us. It took a little while to catch the first two of them up on everything that had happened lately, and then Alex looked to Max for permission, and started explaining his idea about Tess being threatened or blackmailed by the special unit - possibly her father being threatened by them too.

"Yes, I think I agree with you," Kathleen T agreed after a long moment of thought. "It explains some of their behavior, but leaves open the question of 'why' -- not so much why don't they want to play ball with Pierce, but why he'd bring them here if they don't. I don't think Tony Harding, (if that is his real name,) would be the only person who could manage the Kilohertz arcade as a front for them... and even if he were, that doesn't explain why his daughter would have to be the deep-cover agent to contact you guys. I feel like if this is any part of the answer, there's something pretty damn big that we're still missing. Alternatively, maybe they're setting up the 'threatened into working for the FBI' angle as part of something to gain your confidence, in which case she's going to have to tell you about it at some point, and explain why. And you can make up your mind then."

"Hmmm..." Michael considered this. They were all sitting on patches of grass or sand or folding chairs a little way from the entrance to the cave. "Something else I'd like to ask you about... this other alien, Nacero. The shapeshifter. Did you ever hear anything about him from the Special Unit, Miss... umm, Katy?"

She smiled tightly. "Well, I heard the stories about the wandering alien. Somebody who escaped from the scene of the '47 crash before the Air force got there, travelling this part of the country ever since... and killing more than a few people. Actually, I kind of got the impression that they think one of your group, probably you Max, are the same person as that wandering alien... that he took the shape of a little kid and got 'adopted' by a human family for some nefarious scheme of his own. Handful of different theories about how you'd fit into that scenario Isabel... the one that sticks out most clearly in my mind would be that you're actually Max's offspring - that he was able to reproduce asexually or something." She sighed, and Isabel shuddered vehemently and made a face at the mere notion. "But, well, the fact that Nacero and the three of you were fairly clearly all together at that party ruins those theories... or so it seems to me. How Pierce will see it when he reads the reports, is a little harder to say."

"Did Nacero ever try to target Special Unit personnel that you know of?" Isabel put in.

"I don't think so... most of the murders that I heard about were more like crimes of passion or opportunity. He was trying to interact with people as another human being would, but didn't have the language or social skills for it, lost his temper and killed them in a rage. Or he needed something and knew off the bat that he didn't have any way to get it from its rightful owner other than brute force."

She sighed. "He's killed people in the special unit, yes... ones who have been trying to capture or follow him. But I never heard anything about him organizing a planned assasination of a Special Unit leader or something like that. Either he guesses that would be a bad idea, or his brain just doesn't work in those terms."

"About the only thing we know is that he has some interest in the orbs," I put in. "He impersonated Michael to steal the first one... the one that he might have showed us where to find, buried in the desert. Just about the time that we were saving you and getting the second orb in exchange... like --"

"Like he did not want you to have both of them together, for an extended period of time?" River dog suggested.

"But we still don't know how to use them, either of them," Max said with a sigh.

"By the way, there's something I wanted to mention," Topolsky put in. "I think I've gathered from a few stray references that the three of you... you think you were on that ship that crashed in '47 with Nacero?"

"Umm, yeah, it..." Isabel thought about that. "I suppose it was just the simplest theory -- why??"

"I think that some of the Special Unit leaders believe that there was another ship that landed in the Roswell area," Kathleen said. "One that didn't attract as much attention because it didn't crashland. Around, umm... I think it was between nineteen seventy-two and seventy-five. Maybe the three of you, or your embryos or whatever, came in that ship instead of the first one??"

An amazed look passed between us kids. "Well, it would help cut down that extended incubation time," I said, "which I've always thought a little strange." I shot a look over at Alex. "Cuts your forty-two years down to, what, around fifteen or sixteen??"

"Sounds possible," Max replied. "But why send us here as embryos at all?? Why are the aliens sending ships to earth in the first place? And so different... Nacero was able to take care of himself when the first ship crashed. Someone or something had to hide our pods when we arrived, whenever that was."

"Maybe it was so you guys could integrate into humanity better," Maria suggested. "Nacero can't, he doesn't fit in. I don't think he understands us, though he's had years to study. But... but his thinking patterns are still inhuman. You guys didn't have any set patterns, you learned pretty much what all human kids learn, albeit getting a slightly later start. Maybe that's the point."

"Could be," Michael said. "But that leaves the slightly freaky question -- what do they want us to DO now that we can blend in with human culture??"

I think Maria was about to say something in reply, but suddenly Isabel held up a hand and hssshed her. I strained, my ears, trying to hear if anything was going on. For a long moment, there was nothing but the sounds of the outdoors, and then -- a car. Driving way too fast on one of the rough paths around here... probably not the road that we'd used to arrive... and approaching quickly.

There was a moment of panic, and then desperately I took charge. "Topolsky, Max, Michael, Isabel... go." I pointed at an angle, the direction that the car noise seemed to be coming from but also hugging the rock wall that the cave was part of. After a few minute's walk in that direction, I knew, there was a footpath into some stone hills, that the car would never be able to follow. "Maria, Alex, you're with me."

Max hesitated, but I could see that he recognized the sense of it. Just like Maria and I had been the time we were out this way on the father-child camping trip -- the three of us could act as decoys, because we weren't really who anybody was trying to find, it seemed. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to protect me, because whoever it was might get pissed at the decoy routine... but he knew that I wanted to keep him safe, and I couldn't do that and let him protect me at the same time.

We all rushed off in different directions, except for River dog, who probably wouldn't attract too much attention just staying put. Alex and Maria stuck close behind me as I charged off to intercept the approaching vehicle, wondering what it was that I'd find.

It turned out to be a light blue SUV -- with Tess Harding behind the wheel. She braked to a bouncing stop right amid the three of us, threw open her door and charged out, meeting me about ten feet away from the car. "Good, it's you guys," she whispered intently. "Umm... Liz, wanna go for a quick ride??"

I was stunned speechless for a moment, until she prodded with an impatient, though quiet "Well?"

"Ummm... err, why?" I heard myself ask, not much louder than Tess herself had been talking. "Seeing you around school notwithstanding, and your party, you're still kinduv a stranger to me... and I believe there's some merit to the old saying about taking a ride from a stranger."

"Okay, here's why," Tess said even more softly and surely, and took a deep breath. "Liz, my father and I have gone to a lot of trouble in order to speak with one of you privately today, without *certain* other people being able to overhear. You're my first choice - I feel safe with you somehow, for reasons both obvious and less than. I can pretty much guarantee that you'll be interested in what I have to say. But our window is slamming shut, because there are two other cars following mine, and they're gonna be here in fifty-five seconds. If you don't come soon, I'm going to have to drive off without you, because none of us want them to find me here with you guys."

I hesitated only a moment. This was clearly Tess' last gambit, where she told a sob story about being forced to work with the Special Unit, and the gang had pretty much decided that she had to be allowed to play her cards, and then we'd all decide how much we were going to trust what she said. "Okay," I said quietly, and rushed over to scramble into the shotgun seat of Tess' car, as she regained the driver's position. I just had time to wave to Maria and Alex, partly a friendly farewell, partly a reassurance that I would be okay (I hoped,) and partly a cue for them to get back into the brush and greenery surrounding the path. And then Tess had stamped on the gas, and her four-wheeler's engine roared to life with entirely too much enthusiasm.

"So..." I started, but Tess shook her head, gesturing to something near the ignition key. At first I didn't understand anything beyond the fact that she was telling me not to talk, and then it started to fit, maybe. A listening device, planted in Tess' car, that she couldn't turn off? That would explain why she had gotten so far from the car to talk, instead of staying in her seat, and why she had been so quiet. But if that was it... how would we get to talk without being overheard??

I only saw one car behind us, and only a very brief glimpse of something black and shiny it was, but I didn't really doubt Tess' word that there were two of them. She started to drive even more quickly and recklessly down the forest path, heading a little deeper into Frazier woods, (I was getting thrown back and forth and around even with the seatbelt on,) and then pulled to a sudden stop again. I looked at her in confusion, and Tess made a clear 'get out' gesture. I did, and realized that Tony Harding, Tess' father, was waiting for us, and he slipped behind the wheel as soon as Tess had cleared the way for him. Well, that answered one question, maybe... Tony would drive the car away, taking care of both the listening device inside, and (for a while at least) the pursuing agents in the black cars. But somebody would probably notice that we could have gotten out at this point, and agents on foot would be dispatched to follow our trail.

"Quick!!" Tess hissed at me, and led the way into the woods, following a route so rough I hesitate to even call it a path... just a twisting way that managed, through sheer luck, to avoid having to actually walk through any trees or branches. I was puffing and sore quickly, not used to this sort of thing. Tess seemed to be frantic, but bearing up under it stoically.

"Was..." I panted, "was there a bug in the car??" Might as well try to get some facts at this point.

"Save your breath," Tess advised, but a few seconds later she admitted, "Yeah. Very advanced little gizmo - no way to stop it from recording without permanently disabling the ignition and setting off the anti-theft device, making the car undrivable. Records on super-micro memory circuits, which can be downloaded wirelessly from a hundred yards away or more."

I concentrated on my breathing and running for a little while, and even caught up to right behind her. "They'll be trying to find us, huh?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "But I don't think they will, until we have a better chance to talk... here we are, watch it." It was a good thing that she'd warned me, or I might have run right off the seventy-five foot escarpment that suddenly loomed over another patch of forest. "Umm..." Tess looked this way and that, and led me to a tall evergreen tree. Hidden among its branches was a black plastic-fabric vest, attached to a bungee cord that was tied on further up the tree. The way it was set up, you would probably be able to...

"Oh, no. You're not getting me to jump down there!" I inisisted.

"Suit yourself, I guess," Tess snapped a little irritably. "Wish you luck trying to find your way back to your friends, then." She had unfastened the vest by now, and quickly strapped it on. "If you do follow me down, though, do yourself a favor and stay away from the blue button." She hopped off the ledge, falling down quickly. Because of the way the cliff hung over itself at this point, she wasn't in any danger of bouncing against the wall, I saw, and she landed softly on her feet, ran up a small rock and grabbed onto a tree as the cord tried to retract, and managed to unsnap the vest mostly with one hand and send it part of the way back up to me.

I hated this with an intense passion, (never been wild about heights, though it's never been much of an issue living here in Roswell,) but it seemed to me that there was nothing for it but to follow through with what Tess wanted. I pulled the vest back up quickly, and put it on, noticing the big 'blue button' that Tess must have been talking about, on the back near the collar. I didn't even touch it, just made sure that the fit was as tight as possible, (Tess and I have about the same body type, but she's a little fuller across the front. Fit pretty well on me though, so it must have been tight on her.) Tried to judge the way that she had done this, and jumped.

I very nearly ended up bobbing about five or ten feet in the air, but Tess caught me and helped me down, and gave a solid whack to the blue button. Suddenly the lift from the bungee was gone, and I landed a little awkwardly, followed by the length of the stretchy cord. Button must have set up a tiny explosive charge or something, right where the bungee was tied to the tree. Damn, they very nearly *had* thought of everything. If the special unit agents managed to follow our tracks to the edge of the cliff, they probably wouldn't see any trace of how we could have gotten safely down.

Tess helped me take the vest off and stashed it, and the bungee, in some bushes, and led the way up yet another path deeper into the forest. This one wasn't too long though, and ended up at a place where a lazy creek settled into a pool about forty feet wide and seven feet deep before continuing on. I had no intention of diving in for a swim, but it looked pretty and I dipped my hands into the water and washed a little sweat off my face and legs. (Since it was warm again, and I'd known that we'd be heading out into the woods where there'd be no air conditioning, I'd gotten dressed in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt.) She wasn't in a hurry any more, so clearly this was the 'place that we could talk,' and I had to admit that I didn't expect the special unit agents, no matter how clever and well-equipped they were, to be finding us very quickly.

That didn't mean I wanted to hang around any longer than necessary though. "You said you had things to say that I would be interested in," I wheezed, still catching my breath a little. "Say. Why don't you start with who you really are and why you're involved in any of this?"

Tess shrugged. "Tess Harding is my real name. I'm just a sixteen-year old girl... well, with slightly unusual parents."

There was a short pause. "Your dad?" I repeated probingly. "And your mother, who's stuck with work in Santa Fe?"

"Yes and no," Tess sighed. "Yes, my dad, who you've met. No, my mom isn't really working, though she is 'stuck' in Santa Fe. It's dad and I who are doing a job, and Mom is being taken care of to make sure that we behave. But I'm getting ahead of myself."

She sat on a tree trunk and scooped up a handful of pebbles, tossing them into the pool one at a time. Tess was wearing blue jean cutoffs that went nearly to her knees, and sandals and an oversized t-shirt with a chili peppers logo on it, and suddenly she looked very ordinary indeed. It seemed strange that she looked so much like any other high school girl, and yet she was wrapped up in the middle of all this alien craziness. Maybe Tess thought the same about me, come to that... I'm nothing special to look at either, even if Max thinks I'm pretty.

"My dad used to be special ops when he was younger," Tess started. "Green Beret. Maybe technically he still is, even though he hasn't been on a mission like that for years, but I think they don't let you quit something like that, you just get to go on 'Individual Reserve' - i e, you can live your own life until the next time that they need you. And my mom... well, my mom has parapsychic powers."

I must have snickered at that, and she shot me a dirty look. "What... with everything that you must know, you don't believe that certain human people, because of unlikely genetic sequences that no one else has, might have unique and unusual powers? And that some of these people have a vested interest in making sure that the rest of the world either don't know or don't believe in their powers, because that gives them a secret edge against everybody else??"

I blinked in surprise. "I guess I hadn't thought about it. I suppose that would suggest that your hidden parapsychic conspiracy makes sure to have people publicly claim to have psychic powers every so often, and makes sure that they get debunked, in order to cover any stray tracks or rumors that would inevitable emerge?"

Tess smiled, almost apologetically. "It sounds a little crackpot, doesn't it??"

"Little bit, yeah," I admitted. "But maybe even the crackpots are right sometimes. So, you say that your mom was psychic?"

"Yeah," Tess agreed. "Not one of the nasty ones who was trying to use their gift for selfish reasons, and screw the whole rest of the world. She had inherited the gift from her father, though, and he had made an enemy of some of the important people in the psychic conspriacy... then he died in a quote 'accident.'" A short pause. "Yeah." I wasn't quite sure what sign from me she might have been agreeing with, or if she just thought she knew what I was thinking. (She would have been pretty much right - it was quite a leading phrase.) "So mom tried to use her powers for good, but didn't do anything to disrupt the status quo, and in exchange they helped her find good altruistic opportunities. She did some secret missions for the government, which is how she met my dad in the first place. They worked a lot together, but once I was around four or five they both retired from their old lives and tried to disappear into suburbia as much as possible. Even after my mom found out that I took after her."

"Things started to change around the end of last summer. I started to have weird dreams, and then to sense strange things while I was awake. My mom told me that I was picking up on mental signals, but I could tell that there was something that she wasn't saying. After a few weeks, I started to put it together on my own. The thought broadcasts that I was overhearing weren't human."

I was pretty much stunned speechless, unable to even run what Tess was telling me past the skeptic filter, though I knew I'd have to make sure to do that later. The idea that Tess was psychic... and that she'd been receiving alien thoughts around the same time that I'd found out Max's secret... just the concept had thrown me for a loop.

"I put this part together later - mom was trying to keep all of this secret, because she knew, very vaguely, that there were people who would be interested in what I could do, and she didn't want me, or any of her family, anywhere near them. But it wasn't always possible to keep things secret in those circles... someone was keeping tabs on our family, closely enough to tell that something had changed, and then they didn't stop until they knew as much as we did, or more."

"That's when they took me to meet with Pierce for the first time."

"Agent Daniel Pierce??" I repeated dizzily. "The leader of the Special Unit??"

Tess smiled a little, but it wasn't a happy expression on her at all... like she had confirmed something that had already been guessed at, but wasn't good news. "So Topolsky told you that much, huh?? Well, understand this: Topolsky knows next to nothing about Pierce, though she may think she does. The real Pierce is one of the leaders of the... the psionic cabal, and she understands that to be known, even slightly, is to become a target. Especially when it comes to other psionics. So she works as much as possible through an intermediary, a man, who the FBI and the rest of the world know as 'Daniel Pierce.' I would probably have never met the real Pierce, Danielle Pierce, if she didn't think that time was of the essence."

My head was spinning again. "There's something that I'm not sure I get here. Why would a... a psionic be so interested in aliens??"

Tess's mouth became hard. "Well, to start with, there are some similarities between psionic power, and the kinds of things that aliens can do. The cabal found that out when they heard the first reports about the alien killer - the one who crashed here in 1947."

"It makes sense, that if psionic powers come from unusual human DNA, maybe from mutations or something like that... than another race, an older race, might have powers that go far beyond ours. Natural selection could have had extra centuries or millenia to hone their abilities... to test one combination against another, and keep only the winner. Nacero has done things that Pierce and the other top human psionics can only dream about. The same goes for your friends. And Pierce won't stop until she can control that power, one way or another. Either she'll try to learn to do what your friends can do for herself... or she'll make them work for her, somehow or another."

"Umm... okay." I frowned. "What exactly did Pierce want you to do, once she knew you were picking up alien thoughts?? How do you know all this about her motives?? From the way you describe her, she doesn't exactly sound like the 'oooh let me tell you all about my evil plan' type."

Tess laughed. "No, she isn't. To answer your first question, at first she just wanted me to tell her what I was picking up, in as much detail as possible. She didn't tell me anything about the why - that was mom. Grampa had told her a lot about the players in the cabal -- it was information that he had gathered to try and bring them down with. And mom's a pretty smart woman, and was able to figure out some of the specifics herself."

"It was after Pierce found out that mom had been telling me this sort of thing, that she decided Dad and I would be coming to Roswell ourselves. Mom would stay behind, of course, as a hostage to our good behaviour."

"And that's it, pretty much, what I wanted to tell you. We don't want to see any of you guys caught by Pierce -- my sympathies are entirely with you, and Nacero, compared to her, and my parents pretty much agree with that. But there's very little overt that we can do, while my mom is a guest of the special unit."

"Are you expecting us to help her escape, or something like that??"

"Not expecting, really..." Tess said slowly. "Though I can't deny it'd be nice... really risky, but nice. Really, though, I just wanted to warn one of you what the score really is."

And here was the moment of truth. "And why exactly am I supposed to trust you about any of this stuff??"

Tess sighed and stared into my eyes for a long moment, holding her left wrist out very deliberately. I could see, peripherally, that she was wearing a small gold-plated dial watch, and after several seconds I realized that this was the point. She took her eyes away to deliberately scan the face of said timepiece. "It is... ten minutes after eleven, mountain daylight time." She dropped her wrist, and closed her eyes, a pensive expression coming across her face. "Max is... worried about you, well, that's no surprise. Also entertaining a, erm... umm-uuh a rather interesting daydream involving the two of you, someplace that looks like the Hondo reservoir, and, eei, skinnydipping. Ask him for the rest of the details later. Michael is standing behind Maria, his arms around her, and trying to figure out if he can scrape up enough money to take her out dancing at the Silver Spiral next week... assuming, of course, that the Secret Unit hasn't caught him by then. Isabel is talking with Alex about... heheh, about me, and the UFO hunters, and whether Nacero kills to protect himself or just because he loses his temper." She opened her eyes and smiled teasingly. "Of course, I could tell you about that... at least, as much as I told Pierce. Seems only fair."

"About Nacero, and his motives??" I repeated, still a little dubious. More than a little, actually, until I was able to check out Tess' predictions with my friends. "Because... because you overhear his thoughts, as well as my friends'?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Of course, there have been times, I think, when he's killed out of protection, but-- Well, he has human emotions, like your guys do, but he never had a good chance to learn how to control them. He's figured out some of the basics by sheer trial and error, but 'losing his temper?' Yeah, Nacero, as you call him, is very prone to that. If you ever meet him again, be very careful."

"There's also... also something that I haven't been able to figure out, because his mind is so different from mine, and because it happened so long ago. Maybe right around the time of the '47 crash. Something that he lost, that was incredibly valuable to him. That's the root of his anger and hatred maybe, and I have to warn you... he seems to blame the new three for what he's lost. Max, Michael, and Isabel. So they have to be *extra* careful when they're dealing with him. I'll try to tell you if I figure any more of it out."

She sighed and paced around. "So, that's it. It explains, as I hope you realize, why Pierce is working with my father and I, even though she can tell we don't like her, and we do like you. She has my mother to keep us in line, and as far as she knows, I'm the only human psychic in america who's tuned into the alien frequency. Maybe in the whole world." She sighed. "And here is where we part company I think. They're starting to search this part of the woods -- probably won't hurt either of us as long as we're not together."

"That's a guess, and so comforting anyway," I spat a little angrily. "Of course they won't hurt *you*, but they'll suspect that you told me something, maybe something that they don't want to get to Max. And just how am I supposed to get home or anything? Hike to the highway and hitchhike?"

"Don't worry, there's almost no chance they'll find you anyway," she assured me with that maddeningly sincere smile. "And, well, you've got your cell, right, and Max has his??" I nodded, a little blankly. "Call him and tell him to pick you up on the Breer loop road through the woods... he knows where it is and how to get there. And the loop is just a few minute's walk that way." She waved off into the forest.

I was far from certain, but I took out my phone and made the call, and when Max assured me that he did know how to get to that road (and even about where I would probably be, based on the location of the cave,) I shook my head at Tess in disbelief, and started walking off.

* * * *

Okay, so the special unit agents didn't get anywhere near me, true enough, and Max picked me up quickly. Given the prediction that government operatives were in the area, following Tess, we ended up all piling into the two cars and heading off in a random direction away from the woods... well, not all of us - the six who had driven up that day and Miss Topolsky, who we definitely didn't want one of Pierce's people to happen across by accident. Isabel, Alex, and Kathleen took the Jetta, and Michael and Maria rode wth Max and I in the jeep.

I told the guys some of what Tess had told me, including her 'telepathic reception' of what the guys had been thinking about that particular time, and all of them confirmed that it seemed to be on the level. (Maria giggled when I mentioned Max's skinny-dipping fantasy, and hugged Michael's arm when he silently confirmed how scared he was about getting captured by somebody.)

"So, what do we think about her story in general terms, then??" I asked nervously.

"The psionics stuff... I'd say I preobably accept that, tentatively. There's no particular reason why the sort of thing we should do is exclusive to alien status, that there's no way some small percentage of humans would have similar powers," Michael said softly. "That Tess has some kind of ability to mentally eavesdrop on us, and Nacero too... it certainly seems so. That doesn't mean we should trust her, of course... she might be completely in line with Pierce's plan, or whoever it is who's really pulling the strings here, and just trying to gain our trust."

"About Nacero..." Maria put in. "Exactly what was it that she told you about his motives? You kinda skipped over that part."

I repeated it, as nearly as I could, and saw all three of my friends get deep 'thinking face.' "He lost something, something tremendously important to him, and he takes it out on us??" Max repeated. "I wonder what it could be."

"Probably not just losing his homeland or whatever, because you don't have that either," Maria put in. "Or... well, you had nothing to do with him getting stranded here, we don't think."

"I don't think we really have enough information to make a good guess," I sighed. "Are we just going to keep driving out here all day??"

"I was kind of making for a motel out in the middle of nowhere I remember," Max said absently. "The indian reservation is too hot for Topolsky right now, she can't go back there for tonight. Figure she can stay here, there's no particular reason for anyone in the unit to be able to find it within a day or two. Then we can swing around to the north of town and get back to Roswell from that direction, I guess."

"Oooh, we gotta swing by Blackie's and grab some food," Michael insisted, smiling.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	12. Part 4b

Section Four: Liz Parker, Sub one

Part 4b

LPD (Liz Parker's diary) again...

Well, between getting Kathleen checked in at what must be the most remote, godforsaken motel in the state of New Mexico, and going for barbecue food (which was, I have to admit, quite delicious) on the way home, it was after sunset before we finally got back to Roswell. Michael and Maria quickly disappeared into his apartment for a little private time before she'd have to rush home and make curfew, and Max and I spent a little time out on my balcony before I went in to say hi to the parents. We didn't do any more than kissing, and not much of that, but spent more time talking, not really about anything at all. Just hearing his voice, without any worry in it, seemed to relax me, and I needed that.

Mom and Dad were curious as to what I'd been up to all day, of course, and there wasn't much that I could tell them, just that I went out driving with Max and ended up talking with some old friends and some new friends in the woods, and then we headed back out into the desert. They're probably just glad that I'm not getting into detention any more over Max, or coming back with slightly weird-looking hickeys.

Met up with Max, and Michael, before school again Monday morning. Michael was interested in finding some way to talk to Tess himself, or with more of the group around, but ideally not with the meanest boys in the FBI listening in. We talked a bit about possible plans, and it felt a little like we were reliving the Topolsky thing all over again, though things weren't quite the same this time. (That gave me an odd idea, in fact. We had decided to trust Topolsky because Isabel dreamwalked her. Should she try dreamwalking Tess too? How would Tess' supposed psychic powers interact with Isabel's dreamwalking talent?? There was probably no way to be sure.)

Max and I left Michael and swung by each of our lockers quickly before first period. The door to the bio lab was closed and locked, which was unusual so close to the bell, and so the entire class was crowded closely around. I spotted Isabel and Alex nearby and hurried over to say hello to them.

I didn't notice anything weird about the tall, buff guy with the determined expression at first. It was only at the last second that the long streak of shiny metal emerged from whatever he had been hiding in his palm, and something inside my brain KNEW that that wasn't right. I think I yelped, Isabel turned to him with a look of alarm on his face, and he pushed his hand right up to her hip.

Driving the blade into her.

The guy pulled it back after a split second... just a single, purposeful stab. Alex's face had dropped in utter outrage, and he dived after the attacker, but unfortunately Isabel's leg had slid into his path and he tripped over her awkwardly. The guy turned to go and I shouted out "Stop him! He's got a knife, he STABBED HER!"

Two other tallish guys amid the waiting students... I think Ryan Crowley was one of them... did actually get into the stranger's way, blocking his exit. The one whose name I can't remember grabbed his knife arm just past the wrist, and stabber-boy dropped the weapon. From the way it looked to me, he might well have just dropped it offhandedly, because he didn't need it any more, as likely as because the grip had made it in any way hard for him to hold onto it.

And, the buff guy... (he HAD to be Nacero, didn't he? Who else would have had the nerve to do this? Why would Nacero have attacked Isabel? Just to prove some kind of point??) brushed them aside as easily as if they were calm three-year olds, breaking into a casual jog and turning to pass through the doors that would get him to the stairwell... and to the outside of the school building.

I turned back to Max and Isabel at this point. He had rushed over to look at her, while I'd been focused on the guy who made the attack. There was a lot of blood, and a very ugly looking hole in Isabel's pants, and in the flesh underneath, that should never have been there. Max had torn off his shirt sleeves to try and staunch the blood flow. I squatted down opposite him, quickly shed the flannel overshirt that I had just happened to wear to school that day, and handed it over. The tank top underneath was enough to be decent, (if not much more than that.)

Max took it, looked up at me, and I nodded at him, reaching out to tear it up myself, to give him the idea. As his eyes locked on mind, I could see the fear underneath. There was no way that he could heal Isabel, at least not right now, in front of all these witnesses. And there was no reassurance that I could offer him. The wound itself and the blood loss didn't seem life threatening, though certainly they were serious. But weren't there some important organs down there, near the bottom of the abdomen? Were the kidneys nearby? And what if she caught some kind of infection from the knife... or Nacero could have deliberately coated it with something that would be poison to her...

It only seemed a moment before Michael and Maria were there... how could they possibly have heard so quickly? They should have been on the other side of the school... and then I realized that Michael didn't necessarily have to get his information through the usual channels. All of them had been working on honing alien senses... maybe Michael had felt Isabel's pain directly, or heard me screaming from so far away, or detected the blood decomposition particles in the air...

Blood. Isabel's blood was all over, and every drop of it needed to be disposed of, just in case. Maybe the attacker hadn't been Nacero after all, but a Special unit agent. That would explain the motive, and an FBI operative might have the strenth or martial arts training to have brushed by high school boys like that. Were they trying to get proof that Isabel was an alien? Did they suspect her? They might well, especially after the Pool party. We'd probably been watched there even when we thought we were alone, and Isabel and the other aliens hadn't been affected by the drug in the punch as much as humans. She said she'd faked being totally loopy when meeting one of the agents, but audio-visual surveillance would probably show that to be an act. Come to that, she might have blurted out something incriminating while she actually been delerious, after drinking the second batch and before shaking it off.

And then Mister Seligman and the vice principal were on the scene. "Oh, my lord," Seligman muttered. "What, has nobody gone to call an ambulance?"

"No, no ambulance," Isabel muttered weakly. I wouldn't have thought she was still awake, but apparently some words could still get a reaction out of her.

"She's very scared of hospitals," Max blurted out, "and it isn't as bad as it looks. Maybe if we can just get her to the nurse's office for now?"

Seligman shot a look at Mister Wyatt, who shrugged. "They have that gurney which should be just the thing," Alex said, stepping shakily away from Isabel. "I'll run over and get it."

Max shot a look at Michael, Maria, and I as Alex left, and I thought I could tell the message that he was trying to send. Isabel would probably be okay physically... almost certainly if Max had a chance to be all alone with her and clean up the worst of the damage. But the blood all around was a more subtle and pervasive threat, and the three of us could help best by disposing of it as quickly as possible. Max was her brother, Alex her boyfriend, and it would be suspicious if they were anywhere but at her side.

I don't really remember who helped load Isabel up onto the spring-wheeled stretcher, or when they left. I don't remember too much of cleaning up the blood, though I do remember the odd grin of satisfaction on Michael's face as he glared at a soaked rag, and the red stains slowly turned to murky brown. I guessed, and heard the confirmation later, that he'd been blasting the individual blood cells apart so that even if a sample was taken, it would reveal nothing incriminating except unusual elemental traces. (Which was something that Michael hadn't even thought of until I mentioned it, and his face fell before I assured him that that would be difficult, also much more ambiguous and less substantial evidence than intact alien cells. But that was later.)

I sat through second period class, unable to concentrate on anything, and hurried over to the nurse's office to see how Iz was doing. The nurse was off in the walled-off nook, talking on the phone, (to Max and Isabel's parents maybe?) so Alex, Max, Isabel and I were able to have a quick confab alone by the infirmary beds. Max had already swept this area for bugs, and it was clean.

"She'll be fine," he assured me, "it wasn't as bad as it looked, almost nothing important was touched. One semi-major vein coming in from the upper leg had been nicked, and I repaired that slightly, just to be sure it wouldn't rupture again and start off internal bleeding. But even if that had gone a bit worse, she wouldn't have been in danger of much more than... well, missing the rest of term I guess."

The rest of us nodded a few times. "So, which is it?" Alex whispered intensely. "A special unit attempt to get some of her blood... and scare us in the process? Or Nacero, sending some kind of message or just generally pissed at you guys?"

That question hung in the silence for a moment. "Cleanup in the hallway went smoothly," I said. "Michael thinks we got it all, and I'd tend to agree. If they wanted blood, there'd have been some other kind of diversion, right? Heck, he coulda just kept the knife."

"Hmmm..." Max weighed this. "I was able to take care of any blood that got on her clothes, the dressings, or the gurney I think. So unless we've missed something, that isn't a worry. But if it's Nacero who's suddenly stepped up hostilities against us... that's deeply unsettling. All the evidence indicates that he's very unstable. We can't tell who Nacero is just by looking at him, and that meant that he could do this to Isabel with none of us suspecting until it had happened. What if he doesn't stop with a relatively harmless wound next time?"

None of us had anything to say to that, which is probably good because the school nurse came back somewhat unexpectedly.

----------

This afternoon, once school had let out, we put Michael's plan into action and 'kidnapped' Tess. Alex and Max were staying with Isabel, not that we really expected anything else bad to happen to her. Maria drove.

"Get in," Michael growled as the Jetta pulled to an idling stop at the curb, next to her. I think she was surprised for a moment - I wasn't really supposed to be looking at what was going on, so much as keeping an eye out for anybody who might be watching us, or keeping an eye on Tess. But there were no signs of Special unit agents, even undercover ones, (as far as I could tell,) and soon Tess was in the backseat with Michael, and Maria was slowly creeping out into the street.

"No, not yet," Michael warned, and Maria slammed her foot back down onto the brake. Michael's hand probed the air around our newcomer, narrowed into the vicinity of her wrist, (I kinda saw this in the rearview mirror,) and then he unfastened and grabbed a kinda heavy and thick bracelet, waving it in front of Tess' face without a word. She blinked, and nodded, and Michael tossed it through the open window, out onto the sidewalk where Tess herself had been standing just moments ago. "Now drive," he growled, probably taking some pleasure in being able to order Maria around. Drive she did.

"I... I heard about Isabel, and I'm sorry," she muttered. "Been trying to figure out what it was that set him off, but I still can't get close to..."

"No, we're not talking about that yet," Michael told her severely. "You're claiming to have paranormal powers?" Stunned, Tess nodded slightly. "Anything a little more direct and observable than probing into our thoughts??"

"Umm, only one little trick," she mumbled, and stretched one hand toward the front of the car, before Michael stopped her with a fierce glare and a muted rumble deep in his throat. "The bottle of water... may I?"

"Liz?" Michael insisted, and I took the little bottle from the cup-holder and passed it back.

"Do you want to hold it?" Tess asked, and Michael took it. Tess stared at the bottle intently, for about thirty seconds... and the water started to boil.

"Whaa??" I asked. All pretense of being a forward lookout was gone by this point - I was turned around in the seat, watching what was going on between Michael and Tess. "Michael, doesn't that hurt??"

"No, the bottle isn't even warm," he said, slightly awed.

"The water isn't warm either," she said. "Just boiling. You can pour a little bit of it into your hand if you want, now that it's going."

He did... and looked from the little bubbling bit of water in his hand to Tess' face back and forth several times, dumbfounded. "That's... that's like impossible."

"Not really... just temporarily reducing the evaporation point..." she said. "Heating water to its normal boiling point would be much more useful... as a weapon talent, among other things. But I can't seem to master that. This is a parlour trick... an unusual one, but absolutely pointless."

"Well, it's pretty convincing that you're a psychic or whatever, if you call that a point," Michael conceded. "Or, just possibly, that you're no more human than I am."

Tess stuck her arm out immediately. "What do you guys want from me, BLOOD??"

That was my cue. "Actually, no, something a little less messy... or obvious." I passed back a little wooden tongue depressor and a small plastic sample container, damp inside. "Scrape that lightly against the inside of your cheek, and wipe it off inside the sample containers. I know pretty well what human and nonhuman cheek cells look like."

Tess took only a moment before following through. This was partly a bluff... under these conditions, it was hardly a sure thing that sufficient cells would survive well enough to be found and examined, but hopefully Tess wouldn't know that. Even if not, though, nothing would be decided if the test got ruined... which was better than walking into something that Tess was prepared to fake her way out of. (If by some chance she actually WAS an alien and trying to hide it from us.) "Don't go too deep... a patch of cheek tissue big enough to see or touch with your naked eye would be impossible to examine microscopically anyway."

"Now... Isabel??" Tess repeated, after handing the sample container back to me.

"You think it was the mysterious fourth alien??" Maria asked her. "Nacero?"

"Yeah, if that's what you call him," Tess agreed. "The shapeshifter, who's been wandering here for decades. I've grown to recognize his... his anger, his pain, but I didn't realize that he was going to direct it on Isabel until it was too late. And I couldn't be sure that I wasn't being watched at school... going to the scene would just attrack extra attention to the attack. You got everything cleaned up okay I hope??"

"Yeah, as it happens we did," Michael muttered. "So you didn't realize that she was in danger until too late. How convenient. When are you actually going to do something useful for us?"

"I helped distract them when you were running away from the Bandzfest," Tess reminded us, "Pierce might have been pissed off enough to actually try capturing you, with whatshername hanging in the balance. And, well... I don't suppose you'd call anything about the pool party useful?"

"Not overwhelmingly," I muttered. "It brought up a lot of questions, but what we need are answers."

"Well, noted!" Tess shot back, a bit prissily. "I'll see if I can drag up a few for you!!"

"Okay," Maria said, a lot less confrontationally. "And some way to be safe from the boys in blue would help too. In return... we'll start figuring out if there's anything we can do for you guys and your mom."

"Thanks," Tess sighed. "But I don't know what that could be, I have to admit."

Silence filled the car for a moment. "Do... do you want us to let you off again??" Michael asked a little awkwardly.

"Umm, if you could drop me outside the arcade, that'd be great," she said. "Was going to drop by on Dad quickly. And see if they've added any new microphones around town since last week."

----------

Alex:

"Max??!"

As the call came from outside the bedroom somewhere, he looked at Isabel, then me, and shrugged awkwardly. "Probably going to have to tell them something about the attack. The Powers that be must have mentioned that I was there when it happened."

"It'll be okay," Isabel said, lifting up a hand to reassuringly touch his forearm. "Just tell them what happened, well, most of it anyway, and leave out the speculation. The important thing is that I'll be okay... give them a little time to adjust and they'll see that."

Max smiled, still looking a little pale, nodded at me and made his exit. I sighed, looked down at Isabel as she lay on her bed. "I just wish we could know that for sure," I mumbled, hardly realizing I was actually saying it more or less out loud until the thought was nearly complete. Isabel shot me a concerned look.

I rubbed her arm. "Okay, you weren't hurt too badly today, and that's a good thing. But... but now what? The evidence so far suggests that you were stabbed by an intelligent, insane creature who can perfectly disguise himself, however he wants, and has a grudge against you, Max and Michael for some reason that you don't even know about. The other plausible theory is that the attack was orchestrated by a pervasive, secret government agency with huge resources, and they were daring enough to have you attacked in public because they know that none of you guys can use your alien powers effectively in front of people who know you without exposing yourselves, and that they might have done it to secure a sample of your alien blood which they probably didn't get a chance to do." Took a deep breath there and tried to calm down and stop rambling... sheez, I'd given Maria a strong run for her money, as it were.

"The point is that this looks like just the harbinger of things to come... this situation is going to get more dangerous for all of us from here on in."

"Well, maybe." Iz sighed. "But... but I can't focus on that right now, I'm sorry. I've been hurt, and I need you to make me feel better right now, not to worry and frighten me. Is that too selfish?"

I took a moment to consider the question. From a tacitcal slash logical viewpoint, every moment that Isabel pretended ignorance of the dangers surrounding her seemed to make them even more dangerous, and that was a hard thought to abide. But psychologically and emotionally... yeah, her need for comfort and a safe mental space while she was recuperating was valid. When the time came to fight for her life, for any of the rest of us, she wouldn't let illusions get in the way: Isabel would fight with every weapon she had, and probably steal a few more. There was no immediate danger now, though.

"What do you want me to do?"

She smiled, relaxing against the pillow. "Tell me a funny story."

"Hmmm..." Thought a moment about that. "Well, this is kinda funny. It's about the time that my mom and Maria managed to talk me into trying out for softball in junior high. Now, the coach split everyone trying out into fielders and batters to start off, and he took one look at me and told me to play center field, right? Well, after the first few batters had come up and not gotten anywhere near center field..."

----------

LPD continues...

"So, um, what's the word?" Max asked as he sat down with the three of us in a Crashdown booth.

"Umm, not here," Michael muttered, and he discretely waved a finger towards the wall and then past his ear. No-one had checked the dining room for listening devices or other bugs lately, and there was no sense in taking chances.

"Oh, right," Max muttered. "Umm, okay, so what's up for tonight?" He paused in thought only a second. "Hey, isn't today the day that we said we were going to all go out dancing?"

"Umm, yeah, actually it was," I agreed, "but, well, not sure about anyone else, but I don't think I feel up for it now, after the day we'd all had." If it was Nacero who had attacked Isabel... well, we weren't sure what kind of message he might have been trying to send, but possibly if he saw the four of us all going out together and doing our best to look like we were having a good time, he might decide that we weren't taking the message seriously and that he would have to deliver it again.

And there was no way to tell for sure what Nacero might see, or what he could hear, (in public, at least,) because he could be anybody. He could be right here in the cafe somewhere, watching us without making it obvious by staring or anything. That was a creepy thought, and I did the best I could to shut it out of my mind.

"Yeah, me too," Michael muttered. "You don't mind too much, do ya babe?" He smiled apologetically, reaching over to take Maria's hand in his. "I could kinda tell that you were looking forward to the occasion, but..."

"No, I totally feel the same way," she insisted. "It's a shame, because I was really hoping to have a good time, but -- er, not after what happened to Isabel." She took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "So, what else? I *do* kinda want to hang out with you all, the whole gang right now, instead of going home by myself." And she shivered a little bit.

"Umm," Max thought about that. "We could have a home movie night or something -- that worked pretty well the last time we tried it." I remembered what he was talking about and smiled -- the night Max had made the deal with Topolsky to save her, in the old playhouse... everyone had crowded into my living room upstairs and we'd watched 'the princess bride' and 'return of the jedi' straight through, and then the alien kids had passed around the first orb - the one that Nacero had stolen several days later - and experimented with trying to get it to do something.

"Yeah, cool," Michael agreed. "Isabel should be able to sit up some, right? How about we have it over chez Evans?" Max smiled and nodded.

"But there's still one question to be settled," Maria muttered, her voice sounding very quiet and serious. "What movie or movies??"

I giggled a little. "How about 'Aliens'?"

Michael laughed. "Why not Independence Day??"

In the end, we got 'Men in Black,' which Max and Maria assured me was such a funny and over-the-top romp that it wouldn't raise any anxiety even given the current situation, and the Monty Python holy grail, another definite comedy classic, even if I have a little problem understanding exactly what funny things they're saying in the English accents.

We didn't talk much during or after the movies, and certainly nothing about aliens, orbs, Tess, or the special unit. There was some griping about an upcoming test in English Lit, and that set Alex off into one of his own little comedy routines about imitating the teachers and administrators at school.

It was an evening of complete denial, up to a point. Michael put on some tunes once the movies were over and Max took me by the hand - he held me in his arms and we danced about the living room. Alex was sitting next to Isabel on the couch, cracking more jokes and keep her company - even though the wound seemed to be nearly healed, Max and Izzy's parents insisted that she should be resting as much as possible, so she'd stayed spread out on the couch the entire time since coming out of her room for the first movie. I know that if I were in her position, I'd appreciate a guy like Alex doing so much to lift my spirits.

When the abrupt, crashing noise and soft cry first rang out, I had no idea where it had come from or what it might mean. Max and I got out of dancing position, one arm each still around the other, and looked around. It was a few long seconds before I zeroed in on a space near the sideboard. A pitcher quarter-full of reddish pink liquid - probably Mrs Evans' cran-cherry punch, was sitting on the sideboard, along with three full punch glasses and two empty ones. Several sizeable fragments of a sixth punch glass were visible on the hardwood floor, as well as glinting splinters and spilled punch. Maria was standing practically in the middle of the wreckage, staring at Michael, who was a few paces away, and staring back at her with concern and surprise on his face.

"Ummm..." Max cleared his throat. "I know my mom won't be pleased about losing one of her pretty glasses, but is that all the matter, or..."

"I don't think so, Max," Michael whispered. He waited a few seconds, as if expecting Maria to reply, but she seemed to still be speechless. "She was pourng drinks for all of us, but I didn't think there would be anything wrong with going up to her and putting my arms around her waist from behind. Maria just *freaked* -- she practically threw the glass down at the floor and yelled." That had to be an exaggeration; at least, the only cry that I remembered didn't really qualify as a YELL, but oh welll.

"I stepped back away; I'm not quite sure why, maybe I was worried that I'd hurt her or something. Maybe I just knew that something was upsetting her. And then she turned around and started staring at me like... well, like this. Maria? Maria, can you hear me??"

"I... I can hear you," she whispered as if in a trance. "I, I see--" Maria shook herself at this point and seemed to become more fully aware. "I saw something, Michael, when you touched me then. I didn't mean to freak you out like that: guess I had trouble processing what happened for a few moments. But I'm okay now, I think. And... I think I might be able to help find those pods that you guys came out of -- if you're interested."

The silence was so intense that I half expected to hear someone else drop and break something. "The... the pods?" Max repeated. "But -- but how?"

"I'm not sure if it was a flash like you guys get," Maria said, sighing. "But, when Michael touched me right then... it's like a series of images got burned onto my brain. They're a little fragmentary and jumpy, so I'm not sure if they'll be enough. But I'm pretty sure they show the route that you guys took... probably Michael himself, all the way from a dark place where he came out of the goopy wet, to where you guys got picked up by the Evanses and he panicked. You know where that was, right??"

"Umm, yeah," Isabel said from over at the couch -- of course she had been following this just as intently as Max and Michael had. "We all have fragments of memory of that trip, and we've tried to trace it back to the origin, without success. But it's worth a try, maybe -- you might have info that we don't, or at least not consciously."

Maria smiled, and then looked around her. "Aww, I'm sorry about your mom's glass Max." Carefully she stepped away from the scene of the accident, trying not to slip in spilled punch or get any glass slivers embedded into the soles of her shoes.

"Let me try something." All of a sudden Isabel was standing up, and crossing the room quickly towards us without running. She squatted down, gazed intently at the pieces of glass, concentrated, and the pieces flew together!! Within seconds the vessel was once again whole, sitting on the hardwood as if it had been carefully placed there.

Wonderstruck, I reached out and grabbed it. "Liz, be careful!!" Max's voice came a few seconds too late, but there seemed to be no reason to fear. There were no splinters or sharp edges sticking out of the glass. Along what might have been the breaking points it seemed to be a little bumpy and uneven -- signs of Isabel's inexperience with this sort of thing maybe, or perhaps that she hadn't gotten all of the splinters and thus had not had enough material to work with. Or perhaps both. But it still seemed extremely cool.

I turned around to say as much to Isabel, only to realize that her eyes were half closed and that Michael and Alex were holding her from each side - seemingly their grip was the only thing keeping her from keeling over. "Damn fool thing to try, Isabel," Michael was mumbling under his breath. "You're hurt, your power levels have to be lower than usual, so whatdidja have to experiment with a new power for? It was a frickin' punch glass for cripes' sake, not worth putting yourself at risk for."

"Yeah, I kinda thhee that now Michael," Isabel said with a slight slur in her voice. "Didn't really think before I did it, I just acted. But I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that kind of impulsiveness."

Maria snorted at that, and Michael shot her a dark look. "Okay, I guess I know how you feel when I put my ass on the line without thinking it through," he told her. "Will try to knock it off if you agree the same."

Isabel just giggled weakly in reply.

We broke up the party not long after that. Maria, Michael, and Max agreed to meet tomorrow after school and drive up into the desert, see if Maria's flash info turned out to be worth anything. Maria was a little worried that the images might fade overnight, but Max pointed out that it would be suspicious for any of us to disappear in the middle of the night -- especially after Max and I had gotten in a lot of trouble for pulling something similar -- and that if whatever information Maria had got couldn't stay stable in her noggin for a little while, it probably couldn't be relied on in any event. I wasn't too sure about that logic, but decided not to argue with it for the time being.

Max invited me along for the hunt, but I told him that I'd have to think about it, not being sure if it'd be too weird watching all three of them put strange alien memories to use without having anything to contribute myself. Maria said that she'd take Michael home, and Alex offered to drop me off at the cafe. I would have appreciated a chance for a private goodbye with Max on the balcony, but had to agree that it made more sense for him to stay here at home and make sure that Isabel would be okay.

----------

I dreamt that night.

The dream was as if I were standing in Topolsky's little motel room, though she didn't notice me at all, almost as if I were a ghost. It was very dark out and the little battery-powered analog clock was reading 2:15, (presumably AM,) but Kathleen had a light on and she wasn't in bed.

She was sitting on the small couch, with a whole bunch of playing cards laid out on the table in front of her. It seemed to be a kind of game of solitare, though not one I'd ever heard of before. The layout was dominated by four rows of varying lengths, each with a different suit face up. The top row as she saw it, for instance, was single cards, in the diamond suit. Then in the second row, little stacks, probably two cards each, with a heart face up. The third row had stacks of three with a club on the top, and the last had little packs of four with a spade facing up. None of these face-up cards shared a rank, a three or jack or whatever, in common.

She dealt cards three at a time from a face-down stock to a face-up tall stack, which was familiar to me from one of the harder klondike variants that my Dad plays. Slowly I started to realize some of the rules, because when the seven of hearts came up, she checked the row of diamonds to see if the seven of diamonds was there -- when it was, she put the seven of hearts on top of it and moved the resulting stack down to the hearts row. The objective must be to get all thirteen ranks down to the bottom row. There was also a column of small stacks of cards down the left of the layout, of which presumably the top card of each stack could be played out onto the main layout whenever possible, but the lower cards would not be available until all cards above them had been played off.

Was this really what Topolsky was doing, this minute? Or was it symbolic of something in my subconscious mind?? If there was symbolism, I suddenly realized, the order of the suits in the layout was, evocative to say the least. Suggestive of Topolsky's story, what we knew of it. First came diamonds, the money - a job offer from the FBI. Then, she betrayed her employers for the sake of affection -- because she had sympathy for Max and the rest of us. That was the hearts. Next came the violence of clubs, both literal and symbolic, as she was drawn into Pierce's attack against us. Would the spades really come next -- digging her grave soon??

Topolsky played on, completely unaware of my morbid thoughts, and if any similar insight had struck her about the game, she gave no sign of it. In fact, she was smiling, probably because she thought the game was going to come out neatly for her.

All of a sudden, there was a huge thudding impact on the door, severe enough to set up secondary vibrations in the walls and the floor, jostling the cards out of position. Both of us looked at the door in fear and shock, as another WHAM rang out. The third time, the door broke and most of it flew open.

It was strong, dangerous men in blue suits of course... the 'boys in blue' of the special unit. They didn't notice me either, but grabbed Topolsky. She fought as hard as she could, (showing some cool karate moves or something similar,) but was quickly overwhelmed. The only words she let out as they dragged her from the motel was an overwhelmed, strangled plea. "Isabel -- help me!!"

And with that, I woke up, confused, sweaty, and panicked. Why had she called for Isabel, at the end of the dream. Had Kathleen actually been taken by the special unit? Was there any safe way to be sure if she was okay or not?? If her hiding place *was* secure, then calling her or going out to see her could compromise it -- the unit was definitely watching US.

I didn't know what to do at all.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	13. Part 4c

LPD continues...

I don't really remember how long I sat in the middle of my sheets, confused and not really thinking anything that made sense. But bit by bit a few coherent thoughts began to fit together. First... I couldn't just go back to sleep, pretend like this might not be important. There was just no possible way.

The obvious thing to do would be to pick up the phone and call Max. But... well, I was starting to learn that a little paranoia could be healthy. Since finding out that the special unit had moved into town, we'd done our best not to talk about alien business at all at the telephone. Under the circumstances, even for my to call and invite Max over in the middle of the night might serve to clue someone in that I knew there was trouble, if they were monitoring the line. But... what were my other choices? To leave the Crashdown and walk all the way to Max's place?? (It really was an inconveniently long way.) Or to take my dad's car, even though I'm not supposed to drive it without parental permission??

Looking back, I'm not sure if I can explain exactly why I was so certain that Max was the person who I had to bring this new development to... it's just something that seemed to have arrived in my mind fully formed, not allowing any other alternative thoughts to develop themselves. The only question was how, and eventually, uncomfortably, I decided on the car. Quickly changed into some casual street clothes and snuck through the apartment and the cafe's back room, not turning any lights on as I went.

Don't really remember the drive very well at all, except for the fact that I nearly ran into a fire hydrant as I turned out onto Second street. The next clear thought is of knocking on Max's bedroom window, again and again, hoping that I'd wake him up before attracting the attention of anyone else. Finally he was there, suddenly staring back out at me, and opening up the window so I could climb through. Max was only wearing a white tank top and comfy pajama bottoms. "Liz?? Liz, why are you, erm..."

"I'm, I'm really sorry," I blurted out. "Wouldn't have, umm, wouldn't have bothered you this late at night if it weren't a... err, could you sweep the room? Just in case?"

Max frowned in concentration, and went as if to get a broom or something like that, but after a few steps he caught himself and did the little wavy thing. "We're clear," he murmured. "Haven't found anything in here in days, since there was that weird doohickey stuck to the outside wall."

I blinked... he hadn't mentioned a doohickey as far as I could remember, but that wasn't what was important now. "Max, I had a... well, a kind of weird dream, and as strange as it sounds, I'm very worried that I might have been dreaming of something real."

"Something real?? I don't quite understand. Like Isabel when she dreamwalks, or..."

"Not quite like that. When Isabel does her thing, she's inside someone else's dream, someone's subconscious. I dreamed of what looked like a real place, someone who was awake. And I'm worried that what I saw was something that was actually happening, or something like that. It was Topolsky, Max. And she got captured by Special unit agents."

That got through to Max. "How sure are you that it wasn't just a regular anxiety dream, Liz?? I can understand that being something that you'd worry about, but..."

"It didn't feel the same as any of my other dreams, Max," I told him. "Everything I saw and heard was so vivid, so detailed... like I was actually standing there in the motel room with her, only invisible. I remember every second of it." A pause. "Maybe it wasn't even a dream at all, but a case of spontaneous astral projection or something like that."

"Okay," Max sighed. "Well... if it's not a dream, then what do we do about it? Do you... do you have any suggestions, Liz??"

I collapsed down onto his bed. "Sorry, Max. This thing has me so rattled I can hardly think straight. All I knew was that I had to come here and tell you about it... I didn't, well, I didn't trust the telephone, under the circumstances."

"It's alright." He was there next to me, wrapping a comforting, protective arm around my body. "I'll do whatever I can to make this all right. That's a promise."

I sniffed a little bit and looked at him. "Thanks. What did I ever do to deserve a guardian like you? Ever since that day in the cafe, you've been keeping me safe."

"Oh yeah, such a great guardian I've been," Max said, chuckling wryly. "Knowing me has dragged you into all of this stuff, that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Okay, erm... Topolsky. Uhh... well, we need to find out what happened, if anything, at the motel tonight, and we need to find out discretely. Without giving away anything to the Special Unit that we can help, and above all without leading them to her, if they DON'T have her already. That means that the telephone is out again."

"Umm... yeah, that's what I thought," I mumbled. "Do you have a phone number for the motel, as a point of information?? I realize that we shouldn't use it unless there's absolutely, positively, no other alternative, but..."

"Oh, yeah," Max said. "Do you want me to give you a copy, just in case?"

"Umm, yes please!" Max hurried over to his desk, pulled out something from the wallet in his pocket, copied a few numbers onto a small scrap of paper, and hurried back to the bed to hand it to me. I turned it to the light to read... a number with a 505 area code, and a room number. Stuck it into my pocket. "Umm, okay, so then what? Drive out there and check on her in person??"

"Yeah, I think that's really the only alternative left," Max sighed. "Taking every possible precaution to keep the special unit from following us or tracking us while we do."

"Alright," I muttered. "Sounds good."

"The problem... is going to be personnel," Max continued quietly. "I'd appreciate a little backup in this situation, and Isabel is in no shape to go, so that kind of means Michael. But... well, I don't really want to leave Isabel and my parents here all alone. Just in case someone is waiting for an opportunity." He looked over at me. "There's another, kinda worrying, thing that's just occured to me."

"Oh, boy. Well, let's hear it. Like we need something *else* to worry about."

"If we accept that your... experience wasn't just an ordinary dream, what if it was a vision SENT to you by someone else?" Max asked. "I mean, Tess has told us that there are psychics in the Special Unit, and who knows what they can do? Nacero's powers, also, are more than somewhat unclear. If any of those people wanted to frighten you, they could have somehow projected that dream imagery into your head maybe."

"Yikes, that does make some sense," I mumbled. "But... double yikes, if they could do that, they'd either have to already know where Topolsky was, to get all the details right... or to explore my mind carefully enough to find out what her room looks like before starting the 'dream.' And if they can find out that much from inside my head..."

"Then, they could probably find out where the motel is and how to get there," Max muttered. "Yeah. I hope it isn't so." He thought about that. "WIth the special unit, I can't really see any reason why they would have sent you the vision when they could just get the info and then snatch her quietly in the middle of the night. But then, I'm not sure I'm looking as many moves ahead as the special unit is. Nacero... well, he might not be as interested in getting to Topolsky as rattling and tormenting us." I groaned.

"Okay, umm... speculating about motives is all right, but maybe we'd better get back to the point... personnel," I said. Max nodded. "How about... Michael comes with us, and Maria comes over to keep an eye on Isabel? I know that she hasn't got superhuman powers, but..."

"Yeah, that could work... I'd feel a little better just knowing that someone else was here, even if it doesn't make that much logical sense," Max admitted. "My parents might find it a little odd that she's here."

"Umm... Isabel could say that she was having a hard time sleeping, after the attack, and asked Maria over to keep her company?"

"Could work."

Things took a while to get organized, even though Max decided to risk using the phone to call Maria over, rather than running over there, waking her up somehow, and then coming back. Isabel was a bit grumpy up when I woke her up and explained the plan to her... 'So I have to sit up all night, and maybe lie to my parents and say that I couldn't get to sleep, when really there's nothing I'd like better than going back to my warm and cozy bed?' But she understood why we were so worried, pretty much, and agreed to play her part.

"Max, what about Tess??" Isabel asked. "If she's psychic, like the special unit head honchos... maybe she could help protect me."

"I'm not calling her over," Max insisted. "Or anything. Besides, she can't do anything but make water cold-boil and tell what aliens are thinking... neither of which are terribly helpful for defense. We'll talk to her tomorrow, maybe... see if she has any more insights on Nacero, or any experienced guesses about what the unit might be up to. But not tonight." Isabel nodded.

"And what about Alex??" Maria put in. "Do we just let him sleep through all this?"

"I wish that I could," Isabel grumped under her breath.

"I... I don't think it's likely that Alex is in any danger," I put in. "But maybe we should go by his place... his family doesn't live that far from Michael's apartment. See if he wants to come with us or not."

"Okay," Max said. "That's good. Safety in numbers, and strength too."

"Keep him safe," Isabel breathed, and shot a look over at Maria before adding, "Michael too, of course."

"Yeah," Maria agreed.

"We'd better be going," I said, looking out the front windows, and then did a double-take. "Shi-oot, grrr. My mom's car. What the heck do we do about... I don't think it would be smart to take a road trip in it, but..."

"Leave... leave it here," Isabel suggested, "and around 6 am, Maria and I can take it back to the Crashdown and have Beetlejuice breakfast platters or something. Would your parents have noticed that it was missing by the time the cafe doors open??"

"Ummm...." I tried to concentrate on the schedule, but Maria was the one who answered first.

"No, Lucy, Ramon, and Agnes are opening up this morning, so the Parkers will probably sleep in a bit." Isabel nodded happily.

"Alright, here." I put the keys on the coffee table. "Come on, Max... we'd better get going."

We slipped out the back kitchen door into the Jeep. "Watch carefully," Max whispered to me before starting the engine. "Any sign of... well, you know."

I nodded, but there was trace of anybody around us in the mid-night stillness as Max drove over to Michael's place, woke him up, and then at Alex's place I slipped inside, (using the spare key always buried in the garden next to Mrs Whitman's favorite... well, I can't remember the name for it. Tall, stalky plant that blooms with beautiful orangey flowers in the early summer. Anyway, I slipped up to Alex's room, gently woke him up, and asked if he wanted to come with us. Once he was awake enough to answer the question, he agreed to come.

The shocking moment came as Max was driving straight up through the north side of town. A station wagon turned off a side street, maybe four car-lengths behind us. Michael, Alex, and I immediately started trying to stare into the windows, but since the only light sources were the headlights of the wagon, shining nearly straight at us and away from its own windows, and the street lights casting shifting lights and reflections as they seemingly streamed over us, it was just about impossible to tell who was inside or if they were paying attention to us.

"Turn unexpectedly, Max," Michael suggested, and I made a little noise of agreement. Max nodded, slowed down slightly, and then made a wide left swing onto Wilsher boulevard. The wagon didn't try to follow us at all, and when Max had driven through a small square, west one block, back south one block, and back to main street, there was no sign of anyone else, so he turned back north. Alex and I looked even more carefully, trying to pick out someone who might be following us more carefully now that we'd lost the first car, but there was no trace. Michael even tried scanning with his powers.

"I can pick up the wagon, several blocks ahead of us... turning right again, probably on Mescalero. Nobody else close enough to be aware of us." As we passed Mescalero, Michael continued to report. The wagon made no sign of turning around to try following us again.

When route 285 north crossed the bypass, otherwise known as route 70, there were a few cars that turned onto the road around us, but now there were no side streets any more to pull the same trick. Were we being too paranoid about other cars?? There was no easy way to tell.

"Is there... is there something you can scan for that would be a good indicator of government agents??" Alex asked softly.

"Guns," I guessed. "Special unit people will have guns. Not many other people will be carrying firearms in their cars... I hope."

"Okay," Michael muttered. "What can I scan for with a gun?? Is there something that makes up a part of a gun that won't be in cars and people and what have you??"

"Umm... something in the firing pin?" Max ventured.

"No good," Alex put in. "Scan for zinc, and you'd pick up all the car starters. *COME BACK, ZINC!!*" Max and I stared at him in mystification, while Michael chuckled. "Sorry... Simpsons line."

"The gunpowder, then?" I suggested. "There's sulfur in gunpowder right, quite a bit of it."

"If you're in the eighteenth century, maybe," Michael said. "Modern gunpowder is made of nitrocellulose... which has pretty much the same component elements as people."

"Oh, whoops." I sighed.

"Okay, come on, we're barking up the wrong tree," Max said. "Scanning for elements isn't the only way -- Michael, can you scan for shapes? Like, shapes that are made up of iron or steel??"

"Oh, yeah, I guess so," Michael replied. "Of course. Wouldn't be hard to recognize a gun by its shape." He shifted awkwardly around, doing the alien hand thing. "Right there, three cars behind us and a lane to the left. Two passengers, both packing. Umm... what do I do now??"

"Try to cripple them somehow," Alex suggested. "Umm... blow out the tire?"

"Maybe... but that's probably tough because it's constantly spinning, and a little obvious anyway." Max muttered. "Liz, can you hold the steering wheel steady for a little bit?"

"Umm, I guess - why?" I very definitely did not reach out to hold the wheel yet. "Max, what are you thinking of doing, and why can't Michael do it??"

"I want to try blowing out something inside their engine," Max muttered, looking around a bit. "They probably won't be expecting that -- I hope. It'll be less suspicious if they're NOT special unit, for sure. And Michael still isn't as good with really fine-tuned uses of his powers."

"Umm... okay." I sighed. "Say when."

"Now." I reached out and grabbed the wheel. Max twisted around about as far as he could in his seat, (he'd already undone his seat belt, I noticed, and kept an even firmer grip on the wheel just in case.) A little glare, an alien waving gesture, and what seemed an incredible amount of waiting. "Max, less gas." The car slowed slightly, enough that we weren't in danger of rear-ending the subcompact in front of us. Finally Alex and Michael cheered, and once Max had started driving again I looked back. The car Michael had indicated was nowhere in sight.

"They pulled over to the left shoulder," Alex said. "Any idea what it was you got, Max??"

"Maybe burst the radiator hose, or something like that."

"Nice," Michael muttered. "I need to keep practicing."

From there the trip proceeded calmly enough. Michael kept scanning every so often for guns, or a few other suspicious items that Alex and I thought of, but there was no trace of special unit pursuit at all. Driving the last little way to the motel was exciting in a different way, because there was no well maintained road there... just a half-paved one-lane track through the desert, with no lights on it at all. "Stop here," Michael suggested, when we could finally just sort of make out the lights of the office in the distance.

"Okay, what's our plan from here in?" Alex asked. "There might be agents here, if they've taken Topolsky. Waiting for us to visit her next... or to catch us too if they did send Liz that dream on purpose."

"Umm... we leave the car here," Max suggested. "Move slowly, watching in every direction as well as we can. If there's no sign of anyone suspicious by the time we get there, I knock on her door and let us in, and we see what's what."

"Okay, here's one suggested addition to that plan," I volunteered. "As much as the suspense is already killing me, maybe we shouldn't just go straight for her door. Circle the entire motel, far enough out that we're not obvious in the lights. Whatcha think??"

"Sounds good," Alex muttered. "Long and tiring, but smart."

"Okay, let's get to it, snails," Michael joked, jumping softly out of the back of the Jeep.

I'm not sure I can describe exactly what it was like to slowly and silently slink around the desert. Not even quite sure how long it took, though it felt like maybe an hour and a half. There was absolutely no sign of anything unusual... well, I'm assuming that a twentyish blonde leaving a motel room in her nightgown and storming off in a blue pickup truck doesn't really count as unusual in a place like this. Certainly it didn't seem to have anything to do with us or our own worries. (I wonder if the pickup truck was hers, and if she was sharing her room with anyone.)

Finally, we'd made most of a circuit of the motel area, and there was still no sign of any special unit agents. (Max and Michael had been doing alien sensor sweeps now and then, I think.) "Okay, let's move over to near that telephone pole there," Alex suggested in a whisper, "and move in towards her door at a trot. We can't really slink around in the lighted parking lot, so batter to have a little momentum on our side."

"Okay," Max said. "Now... I worked something out with Topolsky regarding unannounced visits, and should probably stick to that as closely as possible. I'm to knock a specific pattern on the front door. She will NOT let me in, but will be warned that it MIGHT be me or someone else friendly if she hears that knock. Then I unlock the door with my powers... and go in and figure out what's going on." He paused. "Liz, you come with me, Alex and Michael try to guard the door?"

"You got it, boss," Michael quipped.

Everything seemed almost surreal, with all of the precautions we were taking, and no real sign of danger. After strolling over to the telephone pole, we jogged over to the door of room number 15, and I stuck next to Max as he knocked in a syncopated rhythm on the door, waited maybe ten seconds, and put his hand over the door. A deadbolt noisily THUNKed over, and he opened the door and stepped through. I stepped behind, but hesitated before going over the threshold.

For a second, it was dark inside. Then a light switched on... and Topolsky was sitting up in bed, blinking blearily and wearing a West Roswell High t-shirt... it was one of Max's things actually, that had been brought up while Topolsky was staying in the cave at the reservation. "Umm... Max, Liz!! Hi... what are you guys doing here??"

I instantly felt very silly. Not only had there not been any evidence, really, of a special unit trap set for us, but Topolsky had pretty obviously not been dragged off by the special unit... or so it seemed. "Umm... well, it's a long story, but we thought there might have been trouble," Max mumbled as I stepped inside and closed the door. "You... you haven't seen any sign of the special unit, have you? No-one's been in here tonight?"

"No... no-one since you guys dropped me off, day before yesterday. I was getting kinda bored, though I know it's better to be bored and safe than... than the alternative." Topolsky rubbed her eyes. "So, umm, what kind of danger were you thinking of? Did you think the special unit had taken me away?"

Max shot a significant look at me... he wasn't sure whether to tell Kathleen the whole story about my dream. I wasn't either, and I wondered if we were thinking along the same lines. All of a sudden, a new and deeply frightening possibility had struck me. While we had been making plans and driving around and sneaking through the desert feeling like idiots, was it possible that the special unit HAD grabbed Topolsky, and done something to her, and put her right back?? Had managed to break her mind somehow, convert her, so that she would act as a double agent within our conspiracy? Was that within their power?? We'd have to risk asking Tess about that, since she seemed to know so much about the Unit.

On the other hand... if Topolsky *was* compromised, telling her about the dream didn't seem like such a huge breach in our security, and if she was still on our side, she might have a useful perspective. Still, I decided to wait and let Max take the lead in this, for now.

"Well, okay, let's see," Max mumbled. "First thing you should know, is that Isabel was attacked at school today." Good, good. That one shouldn't be a surprise to anyone but Topolsky, sitting out here in the middle of nowhere as she was.

"What... really? Who... who was it?"

"It looked like a high school kid, but not one that any of the witnesses were familiar with," Max said. "We're thinking that it might be an alien shapeshifter... or an undercover special unit agent. She wasn't too badly hurt, but still... it was a shocking thing."

"Hmmm..." Kathleen thought about that. "Maybe he was trying to get a blood sample from her?"

"It doesn't look like that, directly," I put in. "The attacker could have just kept the knife if he wanted blood... he seemed to be strong enough to have kept it. But he dropped it at the scene of the crime. We did what we could to destroy any traces of blood anyway... I think we succeeded."

"So, if it was the Unit, they were probably just trying to send a message or to spook you," Topolsky reasoned. "You were careful coming up here, right??"

Max and I both broke out laughing... and somehow that was a cue for us to move away from the door and find places to sit down in the motel room. "We were so careful it nearly drove us crazy," Max admitted. "Taking just about every precaution we could think of."

"All... right. Now, if it wasn't the special unit, but the alien shapeshifter... well, I don't think I know what his motives might have been for attacking Isabel."

"We asked Tess about it," I said. "She said something about Nacero being angry at us, that there was something he thought was taken away from him. Oooh, boy."

"Alright, well, thanks for telling me," Kathleen replied. "But... well, if that's what you came up to tell me about, then the timing is -- strange, to say the least. Was there something else?"

Another look shared between Max and I. It somehow seemed like we'd already crossed the line without knowing it... If we were going to really distrust her, then I shouldn't have admitted that we were still taking Tess Harding into our councils. "Yeah, I had a dream tonight... a dream that something had happened to you," I said. And started to briefly go over the points from the dream again.

"That... that doesn't sound anything like anything that's really happened," Topolsky said. "I don't even HAVE a deck of cards here, though I was thinking of asking if somebody could bring one." A pause. "Is it superstition to think that that might not be the best idea now??"

"Probably," Max muttered in a low voice. "If the dream is an actual glimpse of the future, then it can be changed, I would assume... but changing one part of it doesn't invalidate everything else that's going to happen. If you decide not to get playing cards... then you'd just be doing something else, maybe sitting here bored out of your skull, when they come for you."

"Great." Topolsky sighed.

"Well um," I put in. "If there's no crisis here, we should probably better be heading back. Anything we can do for you??"

"No," she replied. "Oh, wait, one thing. If they might get me here... I want to have some way of at least letting you know that something's gone wrong. Alex is a clever guy, he should be able to set up a panic trace on a phone number... so that you'll be able to tell if it's been rung through to, even once."

"Okay," Max said. "Alex is outside, actually, on lookout. I'll get him." He smiled and headed back to the door.

-----------

(Isabel):

Maria sighed, and I did a half yawn. "Yeah, I'm bored too," I told her. Bored... and nearly out of my mind with worry about the others; especially Max, Michael, and Alex -- but I didn't say that part out loud.

"Yeah, well, that's kinda par for the course," Maria pointed out. "There's been a bunch of bored waiting in this gig." We were sitting down in the kitchen, with just one little light on, in case anyone walked by on the street and happened to pay attention to the house. "Hmmm... if I were anywhere but here--" Maria paused to think.

I laughed softly. "Like they played it on 'Buffy'??"

"Yeah, pretty much. Liz and I picked up on that, though we haven't done it in a while. Okay, if I were anywhere but here... I'd like to be relaxing on a beach somewhere in Hawaii or the south pacific, somewhere nice and far too tourist-ey. Lying right on the gleaming white sand, not bothering with a towel or anything because it's just sand and it'll brush away, something fruity and frothy and with a pink parasol in the glass within easy reach. Michael will be there, probably he wouldn't want to lie in the sun, and he'll be complaining a bit about this or that, because he's Michael and that's what he does. But he'll lean down and give me a kiss, and then go and find a magazine and a hammock in the shade or something like that. And after watching the sun sink through the faint whisps of cloud and down into the ocean, we'll go and have dinner with Max and Liz at a native sushi place... not Japanese sushi but something with a similar idea." She paused, realizing how that last bit sounded. "Um, you and Alex are welcome to come along if you want, I just... somehow that wasn't quite how I pictured it, you know."

"It's alright," I assured her. "Well, the beach sounds nice and all, but I think I'll pick something different. I'd be with Alex, I think... sitting together at an observation deck for a really tall building in a big city. Manhattan maybe, or Chicago. Yeah, Chicago sounds good. We might make out a bit right there, in public, hehe." I could feel my cheeks reddening as I lingered on the thought. "And maybe I'll go over to the railing just before we're about to leave, and look straight down for as long as I can stand to. Then we'll go back to the hotel... you and Michael, Max and Liz will have rooms right next to ours. And then out into the big city for some sightseeing and dancing."

"Cool," Maria said. "Have you guys already had dinner when you're up at the top of the building??"

"Hmm, I'm not sure," I admitted. "Umm... we had something in the late afternoon... might grab a little something in the middle of the dancing... some chicago style pizza maybe, or oven-roasted chicken with noodles."

"Cool," Maria muttered, and sighed in contentment. After a long moment of silence, she seemed to start growing restless again. "There has to be something else that we can do. Grab a deck of cards maybe, and play gin rummy??"

"Ooooh, no." I shuddered more violently than I expected. "After hearing Liz's description of her dream, I suspect it'll be a while before I want to have anything to do with a pack of cards."

"Oh, sorry."

"Nah, it's okay," I told her. "Umm... how about checkers, actually? I think there's a board and a set of pieces in the hall closet."

"Bring it on, alien girl," Maria said, grinning. "I am *so* good at checkers."

I laughed, and went to get the stuff. I'm pretty good at checkers myself, regularly beating Max and Michael, even though Max takes comfort at being able to clean my clock with chess, and both of them generally have more of a knack at card games. (Hmm... I should try playing games sometimes with Alex, even though he's probably a whiz at everything.) Soon it became clear that we were pretty evenly matched, and I had a lot of fun playing against Maria. Always thought that my own style was 'unconventional' strategy... both compared to my guys and the few times I've played against people who seemed more at my own level. But Maria just came at me out of left field, much more of a loose cannon than I could be, forcing me sometimes to stick to the basics if I wanted to have a chance... and, on the other hand, there were times that I was trying to get just as creative and inventive as she was.

We had just started a new game, with Maria being up four games to three, when her watch started to ring off. "Oooh, we'd better head over, grab breakfast, and return Liz's car."

"Oh... right." I frowned at the board... there were a lot of good reasons for leaving right now, but I didn't really want to leave the field of battle without at least tying the score. Oh well... no real answer to that at the moment. "Okay, erm... do you remember what it was like outside when you came over?? Do you think I'll need my jacket?"

"Umm... it probably couldn't hurt," she pointed out. as I stood up. "How's your side, by the way?? You know where you got... erm, cut."

I stretched slightly, and smiled. "Feels like it's completely gone away, actually. Maybe if I'd been thinking clearly I should have told Max that I didn't need to be protected and stay behind."

"Well, hopefully they're on their way back by now," Maria said.

"Yeah." I folded up the board, stacked all the checkers into their box, and put them on one of the shelves in the kitchen... just in case there'd be another opportunity to play in the near future. Then I went out to the front hall to grab my jacket. "Ohh, what do we do about your mom's car, Maria??"

"Oh, okay... you follow me to my place, and I'll leave it there and get into Liz's car with you," Maria suggested. "Shouldn't take us long."

And that was pretty much what we did. The two of us were still among the first half-dozen or so into the Crashdown dining room to order breakfast. Liz's parents were nowhere in evidence.

"Okay, so, erm..." I tried to think of something to say. "Have you ever really lain out on the beach without a towel? Because brushing off the sand is one thing, but I've noticed that sitting on sand or walking on it in bare feet is just never as comfortable as it looks."

----------

Back to LPD:

"Okay, I feel a little foolish," Max admitted as we passed the city limits. "But, well, we've learned a few interesting things that may come in handy later."

"Yeah," Michael muttered. "How to freak out, and a few things about realizing a situation where we might not have to." I groaned at that.

"Umm... there's a really suspicious dark blue sedan that just pulled up next to us," Alex pointed out. "Should we..."

Max looked over at it. "Oh, yeah. They're special unit." He sighed. "Why don't we just let them follow us for a while if we want to?? The hell, I mean."

I shrugged. "Sounds good to me." A change of subject seemed to be called for at that point. "How about we drop in at the cafe and see if Maria and Isabel got there."

"Hey, you'll get no argument from me!!" Alex chimed in.

"It wouldn't suck," Michael muttered in his usual understated way. "As hard as it is to say, I actually have an odd craving for UFO probe sausages." That set us all off laughing.

Maria and Isabel were indeed still there in the dining room, and we pulled up a second table and ordered breakfast. Two guys in dark blue suits came through the door after us, and I tried to discretely signal to them that we shouldn't even hint about any Roswellanian subjects.

"I'm feeling a lot better today," Isabel mentioned. "Don't think I need to go back home... even if the alternative is going to class."

"Cool," Max said.

"Oh, Isabel and I were playing 'if I were anywhere but here' earlier..." Maria added. "You guys wanna go a round??"

"I think I'm gonna have to go with an old favorite," I decided after about a second. "Disneyland... probably riding Big Thunder Mountain with someone very special." Reached under the table to take Max's hand in mine. "Knowing that once the ride is over, there's an ice cream sandwich with my name on it. Something simple like that."

"Not bad," Alex admitted.

The guys all ended up taking their turns. Max picked wandering the streets of Rome, which was a little off the track of what I would have expected... but he's good at defying my expectations, and I've learned to see that it's a good thing. He certainly made it sound like an attractive option. And soon enough dinner was over, and a new question presented itself... what were we going to do about getting to school, since the only vehicle there for the six of us was the Jeep.

"It's still nearly two hours 'til homeroom," Alex pointed out. "Some of us could walk, or take the red line bus."

"Nah, I don't think so," Michael said. "Max could drive a few of us out to somewhere we can get more wheels."

That was pretty much what happened. Max, Isabel, and Alex drove over to Alex's place to ask if he could borrow his dad's car, and I hung around the crash with Maria and Michael for a while. The blue-suit guys shared a look when the first group left, but by this point they actually had some food at their table, (they couldn't be here without ordering and not attract attention,) and neither of them left. Maria bragged a little about how she'd taken the lead in a hard-fought series of checkers games with Isabel.

I can't really remember what all else happened this morning... after the exciting events of the middle of the night, it's all starting to blur a little. When the cars came back, I rode with Max, Maria, and Michael up to campus. Actually, I think only Max came back to the cafe, Alex and Isabel didn't then.

The special unit sedan followed us most of the way to the school, but then turned away... probably didn't want to attract attention by parking in the student lot without student ID or something. Michael checked around for any signs of other agents, but couldn't find any... unless they were pretty convincingly undercover as students or teachers.

"I've got an idea," I whispered to Max as we walked across the edge of the football field. "We'll probably need to cut class. Meet back here when third period stars." Max blinked once, and then nodded. I sighed softly.

"I'll make sure to pass the word to Tess."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	14. Part 4d

(Liz Parker's Diary continues...)

Just before closing the janitor closet door, I took out my cell phone and scanned the distant hallway, spotting Michael and pointing the shiny black bulb at him until the phone beeped. Alex had rigged up these little add-ons to all of our phones for better security at short ranges... infrared voice messaging, he called it. Nobody else could possible intercept these communiques, unless they had another device in the light of sight from the sender, with the encryption codes that Alex had put in. I put the phone up to my ear and pressed the button to play Michael's message. "She's coming your way - everything looking good. Clean aside from the doo-dad Max told you about earlier. Twenty-five seconds to intercept." That meant she should be coming by, just about...

"Now," I whispered, and Maria went and opened the door again. At first I couldn't tell that much about the person outside, except that she was surprised that a closet door had opened right in front of her. Then Tess stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Maria reached out and made sure it was locked.

"Fancy meeting you here," she muttered, bringing up her arm significantly. One of the buttons on her sleeve was noticeably bigger than all the others on her shirt.

"We can talk freely," Maria said, startling Tess. "That gizmo isn't recording anything - never was."

"How the heck do you know??"

"Max and Isabel checked it out pretty thoroughly in the cafeteria," I said. "It's built to send out a locater transmission, but they're pretty damned sure that that's all. Nothing that would pick up light radiation, or sounds, and store them in and organized way. Nothing that's sensitive to a radio trigger, or some other remote control like that."

"Can they really tell so much?" Tess asked, looking impressed.

"We hope so," Maria said. "Alex has been drilling Isabel pretty closely with some electronics stuff, having her sense them and analyze capabilities. She isn't wrong much."

"Alright," Tess said, seeming to accept this all. "What's up?"

"Okay, first off... there's something I want to try this afternoon, once school lets out. Out in the street right outside the Crashdown, across the street from where Max works. Quarter to four. Can you be there?"

"Sure I can, but I'd like to know a little bit more about it."

"I want Max to confront one of those Special Unit guys." Tess seemed stunned by the notion. "Nothing too bad, just shouting at him and calling him weird for following us around. I want very much to see what they'd do, if it changes their behaviour. And I want them to know that we're not going to just stand around passively and wait - occasionally we might do something unexpected."

"Are you sure you're ready for what their response might be, Liz??" Tess asked softly. "I mean... I admire the idea in principle actually... I'm a little jealous that I didn't think of something like it first. But Pierce will get exactly what message you're sending, and she might step up the timetable on her own plans."

"Let her," I insisted defiantly. "Waiting for her to be perfectly ready to come and swoop in will never get us anywhere. Our guys have resources that I don't think she could predict, and forcing her into moving early might give us a fighting chance."

"It might... might also get somebody killed," Maria realized out loud, looking pale. "But you're r--right Liz. We've gotta do something."

"Okay," Tess said. "I'll be there. Anything else?"

I decided to open up with her. She seemed to be holding up her end of the implicit bargains we'd made, and I decided to trust Tess with some more details. "Is there... is there anybody in the special unit who could futz with my dreams? Or can Nacero do that sort of thing maybe?"

"I... yes, it would take a powerful broadcast telepath but it's possible. I don't think Nacero has that sort of ability, especially not with humans. Why??"

"I had a very weird dream last night. About... about a friend of ours. Making me think she was in trouble."

"The rogue FBI agent?" Tess guessed. "The one you were meeting with in the Indian reservation a few days ago??" Hmm... I hadn't been sure how much she'd guessed about Topolsky. Probably been able to find out a lot from being connected to Max, Michael, and Isabel's thoughts... boy, that idea was really getting creepy.

"Yeah. The dream was really detailed... with all kind of information about... about the hiding place we moved her into after you and I had that talk in the woods - a place we thought she was safe. In the dream, she was dragged away by agents. But when we finally got up there, being very careful about being followed and walking into a trap and such, everything was fine."

"Hmm... I have to say I'm not sure," Tess admitted. "To create an illusion with that much detail would normally have required the psionic to have that information available about the setting... and, as you might have realized yourself, if the special unit had that info they could simply have grabbed her without warning you, instead of frightening you and apparently doing nothing, accomplishing nothing else. It doesn't seem to make much sense as a tactic. You don't think it could just have been a regular dream?"

"It didn't feel too regular." Since everything else seemed to be pointing in that direction, I was softening my stance. "Then again, these aren't regular days for me. Maybe it was just my brain's way of letting out a little stress."

"Okay. Oh, one other thought... I don't know for sure that it's possible, but my mom said she heard about it once. A very skilled psionic might have been able to implant the framework of that dream... the conceptual basis, in such a way that your own brain filled in all the details. Again, I'm not sure what the point would have been, but that might explain something."

"New topic," Maria said. "The guys... Michael, Max, Isabel. They're not sure where they came from - in the direct, physical sense. They have dim memories of coming out of incubation pods, hidden somewhere out in the desert, but haven't been able to narrow that down. Do you know anything about those? It just might be important."

"Umm... no, I don't think so. I've never deliberately reached that deeply into any of their minds, and I don't think I came upon anything relevant to it by pure chance. Umm... I think Nacero has been to a place like that, several times, but I'm not sure exactly where it is - or when he's been, whether it was before Max and the others showed up... I kind of think it would have been after."

"Hmm..." I thought about that.

"If they trust me enough, I could try doing a deep probe into one of their subconscious minds," Tess offered. "Face to face would be best for that kind of thing, to avoid any possible complications. I promise - I won't deliberately go after anything else, and I won't tell anyone anything that I find through such an operation. In fact, I can probably try to do it so that I get nearly nothing at all directly from their thoughts... just help them to consciously access a long-repressed memory."

"We'll tell them," Maria said. "Right now, we'd probably all better get out of here before anybody starts banging down the door."

"Yeah." I opened the door. The hallway was pretty empty - everyone else having gone to classes by this point. Isabel was leaning against a locker not far away, trying her best to make it look like she had nothing better to do. A little ways further down the hall, a guy in a blue suit was doing a much worse job of being inconspicuous.

The four of us hurried off to class. Nobody here but us studious and slightly tardy high school girls.

----------

"Okay..." Max muttered. "Everybody clear on the plan?"

"Yes, of course we are," Isabel sighed. After a second, she muttered, "Sorry, I was feeling nervous and jumpy. Yes, I'm clear."

"I'm clear," I said.

"So am I... and our friend is still just about four car lengths behind the Jeep, which sounds good," Alex finished.

"Okay," Max mumbled. He turned off of second street and parked in a different area than he did normally, about a block and a half south of the Crash. We got out and started to head up the street. For some reason, I had a completely insane urge to wave at the Special Unit agent who had managed to find a spot to park himself, (we'd picked this place partly so that it would be hard, but not too hard,) and followed us at as great a distance as he could. There would have been almost no chance that I'd have spotted him if I hadn't been looking, but since I was, it wasn't hard.

We had arranged all of this pretty carefully. The four of us come north, Tess heads south, and Michael and Maria come from the east, all timing it so that our paths converge, and we pass each other, right outside the diner. Michael and Maria headed in as if it was time for their shift, Isabel waved hi to Tess. Each of us had exactly one boy in blue, and they were more than a little surprised to find that they all ended up at the same place at the same time. Ours had caught up to us as we got near to the restaurant... probably wanting to be sure that he could see whether we went in, or ducked around to go up to my balcony, or headed over to the UFO center, or what.

Max and I nodded at each other at the exact same moment, and we all turned around. Max headed forward, while Alex and I stayed where we were, and Isabel dodged out to the side, standing in the parking lane of Main Street, bracketing the east side at least partially. Michael was guarding the west flank, which was the entrance into the Crashdown dining room, keeping Maria behind him. Tess was glaring at them from the south. So suddenly, they found themselves calmly and efficiently surrounded.

And Max strode forward, carefully but with a bit of fierce energy in his movements. "Hey, what the hell's the deal??" he called out loudly. The streets around the center of Roswell were always busy, this time of day, and several passers by were already starting to pay attention to the unusual confrontation "Look at me, mister, 'cause I'm talking to you. No, don't look at your friends and pretend you don't hear me!!"

I took a deep breath. Could something go really badly wrong here? I remembered the message that whoever had sent by stabbing Isabel. And these guys were openly carrying guns. If one of them shot Max, and they threatened to shoot anyone else that kept them from getting away, then what??

We couldn't even... Max was the only one with the healing touch, at least with enough of it to save the life of somebody with a serious gunshot wound. Physician, heal thyself? Not likely in this case.

Forced myself to calm down. They *could* do that, theoretically, but there was zero chance that they would, that they would have been ordered to use deadly force in so public a situation. It would turn the entire town upside down and possibly lead to a serious investigation of the Special Unit, in the worst possible light. They didn't want that kind of publicity.

At least... not unless it seemed like there was no other choice.

Fortunately, things didn't seem to be going badly. "You've been following me and my friends for days now!" Max was shouting, really getting into the fun of it. "Did you think that we were blind, that we weren't noticing? Who do you work for?? Have we done something wrong??"

The agent he had been focusing on particularly, the one who had been following the four of us, smiled a little sheepishly. "Listen, kid, I wish I knew what to tell you."

"Do you admit that you've been following me?" He didn't say anything, though it seemed like he made the tiniest little nod. "Are you willing or able to say ANYTHING about it??"

A long pause. "Then I'll give you two choices. Either get the hell out of here," Max took a deep breath, "or I'll grab one of you by the arm and take you to a Sheriff's deputy, tell him you've been stalking me. See what the law has to say about that."

That part was pure bluff, and probably Max's idea. Valenti might have come to find Max when he found out that Hubble was trying to kill him, and told Alex that he was looking out for us, but I still wasn't sure we could trust his motives. On the other hand, I kind of got the feeling that Valenti didn't like FBI or other outside authorities snooping in his town, so he might appreciate the chance to make trouble for a Special Unit agent just on principle.

But it looked like he wouldn't get the chance. None of the blue-coats seemed happy about it, but they were starting to head off, across the street where Isabel stepped aside to clear a path that they could take, across the street. Somebody started to clap - I couldn't tell quite who, or why. Max did a good job of staying and watching until all three of them were out of sight, and then we lost little time in heading into the dining room - all seven of us.

"Of course, they'll be back and following us again soon," Tess whispered softly. "They'll be hanging further back, harder to spot. Probably less noticeable clothes than the blue suits -- better cover stories in case of a confrontation like that. Switching out with other agents more often, so it'd be harder to make the case that there's a threatening pattern."

"Party pooper," Michael muttered. "I don't care, it did my heart good to see that." And that, to tell the truth, was most of the reason why I came up with this plan. Slightly scary tactical advantages were well and good, but it had been clear to me this morning that our side needed a morale booster, and even a hollow victory would be better in that vein than nothing at all.

"By the way, Maria mentioned something else that I can maybe help out with," Tess said softly. "But maybe we should talk about that somewhere else."

"Yeah, okay," Isabel said after a moment. "But not right now. Right now - we eat!!"

"And drink," Michael added. "Though... not booze drinks, just sodas and such."

"And just maybe, we'll be slightly merry," Alex finished.

Maria and Max shot him an odd look.

-----------

After consuming a rather starting quantity of greasy snack food, a few of us headed upstairs to chez Parker. Michael and Maria really did need to get on shift, and Alex's parents had called through to the diner, and asked him to come home as soon as he could, so that left Tess and Isabel, Max and me. Tess quickly explained more or less what she had told Maria and I in the janitor's closet.

"A deep probe?" Max repeated as if he didn't like the way the words sounded when they came together that way. I couldn't really blame him.

"Maybe 'probe' is the wrong word to use around aliens," Tess said, and giggled nervously. Isabel and Max were both staring at her flatly. "And maybe I shouldn't have even said that. Oh well. Call it... a guided memory retrieval session. I'll be using the contact I have with your minds simply to help you remember, to put you in better touch with your earliest memories. That way should be *extremely* safe... and very few privacy issues too. I won't be able to 'snoop' hardly at all on what you find out." Tess made a little sad face, as if she regretted the prospect of giving up some good juicy mental secret.

"Well... maybe," Isabel said, stretching her legs out on the couch. "What do you think, Max?? It's probably better if I volunteer for this, if only because..." She waved a hand vaguely, and I swallowed as I realized what she was getting at. If something went horribly wrong while Tess was touching her mind, then Max might be able to save things by trying to use his healing touch on her brains. We all hoped that it wouldn't come to that... but maybe she had a point.

"Well... if you want to go through with it, I'll support you in it," Max assured her. "It... it kind of makes sense. We really need to know what might be in that pod place... or at least, it would be really good to find out."

"Hmm..." Isabel thought about that. "What we *really* need is to get back that Orb that Nacero stole from us... or at least figure out what they're any good for." She looked piercingly over at Tess. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, now would you Tessie??"

"Umm... metal thing, about big enough to hold in one hand?" Tess asked. Max's head turned around to stare at her.

"Yeah... what do you know about it?"

"Umm... it's very important to him... something that he associates with his resentment of the three of you. I... I'm not quite sure why." Tess was stammering slightly, obviously nervous at this turn in the conversation.

"Just... just because Topolsky gave it to us, or something more fundamental than that??"

"Ummm..." Tess closed her eyes and concentrated. "Yes, something deeper. The one he took... even though he still has it, it's a source of frustration. He... he knows how to use that one, but the knowing how doesn't do him any good, because... because of who he is."

"Really?" Isabel blinked. "Would it... would it have done us any good if we learned how? And that's why he took it away??"

"Yeah, something like that," Tess agreed. "And that... if you got the orb to work, it'd somehow be everything he's most worried about."

"Okay..." I tried a question. "What about the second orb - the one that he doesn't have yet? Do you think he knows about it? Does he have any particular feelings about it?"

"Umm... okay, yeah. He knows there's another... I don't think he knows if you've got it or not. He..." Tess sighed, her eyes still closed, looking somehow intently relaxed, almost as if she was slipping into a self-hypnotic trance state. Her voice was getting a little slow and dreamy too. "The second one, he could probably use if he had it... if he thought there was a need. But there's still some outrage -- outrage over the fact that you guys might have it, and more... maybe the fact that it was MEANT for 'the three,' and not for him. On another level, he's a little glad that you've got it, because it might help you out of a tight spot. His feelings about you are *really* conflicted... even though there's anger or resentment, he also feels an undercurrent of sympathy and protectiveness. He..." Tess gasped, and opened her eyes. "He doesn't want anybody to hurt any of you, except possibly himself."

"Oh-kay..." Max mumbled. I could tell from the look on his face, as he sat there in one of my mom's dinner chairs, that this scene was definitely starting to freak him out. "Any notion what either of them actually DO? Where he might have hidden the one he has?"

Tess closed her eyes again and was silent for a long time. "The second one... I get an impression of power there. Energies... energies that could be used in combat, or for defense. Against... against the interlopers... that might be the Special Unit he's talking about. And the first orb - the one that he already has... it's to connect, to make contact..." She sighed and opened her eyes again. "He won't let me any nearer than that. It seems to be terribly close to his anger, his resentment of the three of you. That's the only thing he fights me on so much... he doesn't seem to want to give up that secret to anybody, yet."

"Wait a second!" I said, concerned. "You mean... he can tell that you were in his head, just now?" That didn't really seem good.

"Yeah. I'm sorry - I was trying to avoid that at first, but... well, you guys seemed to insistent, and I lost sight of caution and just kept pushing and pushing." She sighed and turned to Max. "I have some notions of where he might have hidden the Orb - some of the places that he spends his time on, though I don't know precisely where any of them are to be found. On the other hand... if it's so important to him to not let any of you get the contact Orb, and he knows that I've been trying to find more out about it - he may take it and hide it somewhere much more carefully now. Again, I'm really sorry."

"It... it's okay," Isabel told her. "We know a lot more about both the orbs and Nacero than when we started, and I think that's worth it." She sighed. "One thing that I don't get, though, is that if he didn't want us to have the first orb... how did Max and Liz find it in the first place? I thought that it was Nacero who led them there."

"Well... maybe he changed his mind," I suggested. "He certainly seems to be unstable enough for it. Maybe there's some other motivation, something that ties into protecting the three of you, that made him think that us having it would be a good idea. Then resentment rose up and swamped protectiveness, and he stole it away again. Or maybe he was just using us to get it, because there was some reason he couldn't dig it up directly himself."

"Or... or maybe it wasn't Nacero at all, but something else that led us there that night," Max said quietly.

"Something else?" Isabel and I asked at the same time, and she added "Like what??"

"I...I'd rather not say just yet, until I get a few things sorted out in my head." I was staring at him so hard that I'm not sure what he saw in my face, or Isabel's, but he added after a moment, "Just trust me for a little while, okay??"

"Alright I guess," Isabel turned her head back towards Tess. "The memory retrieval thing. We'd probably better do that now, before we forget entirely."

"Okay." Tess got up from the armchair she was sitting in and gestured that Isabel should sit up on the couch so that she could take the place next to her. Isabel seemed a little bit reluctant to draw up her legs, which had been streteched out on the sofa this whole time, and put her feet back on the floor.

I'm not quite sure how to describe the retrieval session, because there's not that much that visibly happened. Tess reached around Isabel's head to lay her hand on the far side of her head. with her palm mostly over Isabel's ear, with hair in between. Isabel's eyes closed, while Tess' stayed half open, and Izzie seemed to cycle between very calm, slow breathing, and a more shallow, faster breathing pattern, on what seemed to be a sine wave with a period of maybe forty-five seconds. It was about six minutes before Tess took her hand away and shuffled slightly to the side in order to give Isabel her space. "Did... did it work?" she asked nervously.

"Yes." Isabel opened her eyes and looked at Max. "Or at least it worked quite a bit. The memories are definitely clearer... as if they happened sometime yesterday, maybe. I'm still not sure it'll be simple to find the place, but now I think it'll be possible."

Max smiled. "Do you want to get started now? The Special Unit might not have arranged another tail for us, and I doubt they'll still want to use the boys in blue."

"Yeah, maybe," I agreed, wanting to get in on this. "We could grab Maria too - she had that flash about the pods yesterday, and we didn't really have a chance to try out what SHE saw. That could be a good counterpoint to your new memories Isabel."

"Yeah," Isabel said softly. "But first... Liz, do you mind if I use your phone to call Alex's place?? I'm a little... well, a little worried. It seems unusual, them calling for him at the cafe like that, right??"

"Not entirely," I said. "It's happened before - not when you were hanging around with him, but it has." Isabel looked down slightly, as if embarassed... that she'd forgotten she hadn't really been spending time with Alex for very long, all things considered. "But if you want to call, by all means go ahead." I picked up a cordless phone and lightly tossed it to her.

She dialed, and I went over and spoke with Max about something unimportant - a homework assignment we'd been given in social studies, because I didn't want to feel like I was listening in. I caught little snippets of what Isabel was saying, pretty predictable stuff like asking if Alex was there yet. It didn't seem like long before she hung up the phone.

"Alex... Alex's grandfather in Kirtland had a... a seizure, possibly a stroke," Isabel breathed. "His parents are getting ready to leave, to head up there and... and make sure that he's okay. They... well, they want him to come with them, obviously."

"Oh, no," Tess whispered, and we all turned to look at her. "I... I don't think this is a coincidence, guys. They're trying to seperate you from your friends and allies, one by one. Alex had a weakness... a relative in a suitably distant location, probably with a medical history that fit in. They *want* to get him out of town, long enough to... to make a difference somehow."

Max looked ashen, but he had a resolve face. "If th-- they want Alex to leave, then we want to find a way for him to stay, right?? As long as it could be done without attracting too much attention?"

"But... if this doesn't work, will they keep at it?" Isabel jumped. "Mom's sister - aunt Laney. She's had diabetes for years and years now. If somebody managed to... if they were able to replace her meds with sugar pills, she could go into a coma. It wouldn't even look too..." She broke off, not able to continue any further.

"I don't know how great a danger that is," Tess said softly. "This looks surgical, a carefully planned move to create a very specific response. If it looks like we're on guard and won't react the obvious way they were hoping... they may put it aside and try something completely different. Hurting your loved ones just to torture you psychologically would be escalating things in a manner that doesn't sound at all like Pierce... at least, not at this point."

"Oh... okay," I started. "I know Alex's parents pretty well, what kind of arguments they'd be receptive to." Pause to think just a little. "There's school - that seems the most obvious one. They're proud of Alex -- he got his brains from his father, mostly, and school and academics are important to them. Finals aren't that far away, and if he made the pitch that he wanted to stay in classes, instead of driving all the way across the state..."

"Yeah, alright," Max said. "If they want to find someone he can stay with while they're away, then maybe Izzie and I can talk to our folks." He stopped a little, maybe realizing how that would sound if his parents had heard that Alex and Isabel were dating. "Or maybe Maria's mom."

"How did you leave things with Alex?" Tess asked.

"He... he said he's not sure if he wants to go," Isabel said. "He might have guessed about some of this stuff himself. One of us should probably call back soon, or maybe a couple of us could go straight over there."

"How long are Michael and Maria still on shift today?" Max asked me, frowning slightly as he tried to work out the right thing to do. "Do you have to go on?"

"Umm... Maria's only short-shifting," I said. "Covering for Katie Wilson, because she had to be late. Michael's on until... oh, eight or nine, I can't remember which. Katie's supposed to be here at five-thirty. And no, I don't have to work myself." My parents had been looking for other people to take on more in the diner, because they said they didn't want to take time away from studies for me or any of my friends. Schoolwork wasn't as big a priority for me now as it was for them, but I was glad that they had arranged the time off anyway.

"Gut check time," Max said, addressing Isabel and I. "Which is more important - the Alex crisis, or the pod chamber?"

"Alex," I said immediately, without even thinking about it.

"Umm... yeah," Isabel agreed after a moment. "Tess... if my memories start to fade again, can you do this trick again?"

"Uhh... I, I think so," Tess replied, clearly startled by the question. "I guess I didn't expect that they would fade particularly quickly, but..." She hesitated. "Now that we've been through it once, I think I can quickly teach you a refresher technique to make the memories more vivid again, without even having to go into contact with you again."

"Okay, that sounds good," Isabel agreed. "Max, let's head home and try to sound Mom and Dad out about Alex... I have to admit, I'd kind of like having him around. Liz, maybe you could bring Maria up to speed, so that when Katie arrives she can do whatever she needs to as soon as possible."

"Yeah," I told her. "Bye and good luck."

"Umm... I guess I'll get going too," Tess said. "Should check in with my Dad and stuff."

"See-ya, Tess," I said, smiling at her. "Come around again soon."

-----------

"So, what do you think??" I said, sitting down next to Alex on his lawn. It was hours later, and evening was falling across Roswell. Maria and I had eaten dinner at the Whitman's house, with Max and Isabel 'just happening' to drop by afterwards to pass on their sympathy about Alex's grandfather.

"I think the Special Unit had better watch out, 'cause I'm pissed now," he answered, in much too soft and mild a voice to make the threat anything other than comical. But nothing was particularly funny at this point, so I didn't laugh.

"About where you're going to stay," I prompted. "The Evanses have offered, and so has Maria's mom. Neither Isabel's parents or yours seem to think that there'd be anything wrong with the two of you being under the same roof for a week or so."

"I don't think my folks even realize that I'm seeing anybody," Alex admitted. "If 'seeing each other' is the right term for what's going on between Isabel and I." He smiled at the thought. "I admit I think I'm more impressed by that idea. Not just getting to see more of Izzy... but being closer, I'd be better able to keep an eye on both of them. Things are going to get messy very soon, and they're likely to be in the thick of it."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I really am sorry about Grampa Lou." I still remembered, very vividly, (or at least with the semblance of vividness,) a March break trip up to Bloomfield, not far from Kirtland... Alex's father had been called there to consult with a research team at a biological institute there, and Alex and I had come up because we didn't have school and watched a change of scenery. Alex's grandfather had driven over one afternoon and given Alex an advance birthday present, saying it would be easier than shipping it a month later. He was a slightly grumpy guy, as I remembered him, but full of a hard-to-describe lively spirit, and still in pretty good health for seventy-something. And that had been only about a year or so ago. Didn't like to think about him maybe having a stroke... like my own Grandma had had. "I... I know it's crazy, but I feel responsible."

"Why?" Alex asked, and then guessed it. "Because of the confrontation plan? Liz, that's really stupid. Things had already happened in Kirtland by the time Max parked the Jeep this afternoon. And... well, we don't know what anybody might have done to my grandpa, but if there was anything, it probably took some time to arrange. A day or two."

"Yeah, yeah, I know it all in my head," I admitted. "But still... I convinced Max and everybody to do something risky, something maybe a little stupid, and then something bad happens to someone you care a lot about. It's no so easy to convince my stomach that there wasn't any connection."

"Your stomach will figure it out eventually," Alex quipped. "It's a pretty smart bag of organic tissue." For some reason, that made me laugh quite a bit.

After a little while, we went back in, and Alex told his parents that he was really sorry he wouldn't be able to go up and make sure that Grampa would be okay, but his classes had to be a priority, and he'd decided that he wanted to accept the offer to move in with the Evanses and share Max's room. His mother made a bit of a fuss, and then he and Max and Isabel headed off in the Jeep, to meet Max's parents and work out some of the details.

"I'd probably better go too, tell my mom that unless there's some big problem with the Evanses, she won't need to make room for a houseguest herself," Maria said. "Liz, do you want a ride?" I told her sure, of course.

"Oh, I nearly forgot, I meant to offer my sympathies to Isabel, I heard about what happened to her at the school the other day," Alex's dad said. "Could you tell her that I'm glad she seems to be doing well."

"Right, yes," I said. "It looked really bad at the time, but she wasn't hurt seriously. Just lost a little blood - that was the worst of it I guess."

We said goodbye to Alex's mom and headed down to where Maria had parked the Jetta. "Okay, that's one crisis dealt with sucessfully, or at least so it seemed," she whispered once the motor was on. "What about the pod chamber thing? Can we pick Isabel up and get anything done on that tonight??"

I groaned... today had already been much too full of plans and schemes. "Umm... it might be better to leave that for tomorrow." I sighed.

"Gotcha." We were getting close to the Crashdown already. "I feel kinda tired too, actually. How about I go in with you, we go behind the counter, and make ourselves a couple of cherry-coke, rocky road ice cream floats? That sound good?"

"GOD yes!!" I exclaimed. Maria looked over at me, and we both started howling with laughter.

----------

ALEX:

"Okay, I guess this is it," Isabel said, getting behind the wheel of her mother's car and pulling out into the street. "I hope you enjoy your stay at Evans house." After she finished speaking, she shot one of those 300-watt (or so) grins over at me.

"I fully expect to," I told her. "Not that enjoyment was the reason for any of this, but... well, I guess you know what I mean." My parents had been interested in getting started as quickly as possible, even though it was a long drive to Kirtland... they could get a motel room for the night somewhere between Ramon and Vaughn, and be at least an hour ahead in the morning, compared to sleeping here in Roswell. That was why Isabel had rushed me back home, to quickly pack up a bag of overnight stuff, to settle in at their house for tonight -- and to say a quick goodbye to my mom and dad before they roared out of town.

"I... I feel bad that you got dragged into all of this danger," Isabel blurted out. "It... it's bad enough that Max and Michael and I have to live with the threat of government UFO hunters and what-all else, but now you're in as much danger as we are. You and Maria and Liz. Sometimes I think you should never have been involved."

I sighed. "We've been over this, and we'll probably go over it again, heheh. No, in a perfect world none of our lives should be in danger just because you are what you are. But... I wouldn't have given up what I've been through... knowing all of you, caring the way I do about you Isabel, helping Max out when he was in the hospital -- just to save myself from the danger. Not ever."

She smiled slightly. "Mind if I pull over so we can kiss a little??"

"Isn't that kind of a stupid question?" I shot back, and she laughed. "On the other hand, if we won't be able to find ways to kiss when we're living under the same roof without your parents catching us, I may explode or something."

"That would get really messy," she said, slowing down and maneuvering the car into a parking lot. "I'd better start to get creative."

And then we were parked, and Isabel shuffled over slightly. It was a good thing that the car was too old to have captain's chairs in the front, it was just a big bench, with the automatic gearshift attached to the steering column. We put our arms around each other at the same time, (luckily, she went high and I went low, otherwise it coulda been awkward,) and our lips met.

I'll say this. I don't have that much experience with kissing before Izzy, but she has got to be naturally *amazing* at it. Well, either that, or somehow we just happen to be great together. It was more than fifteen minutes later before we got ourselves sorted out and back onto the road safely. Fifteen EXCEPTIONALLY great minutes.

Isabel walked with me as I carried my bag up to Max's room, where a pretty comfy looking inflatable bed had already been set up. Max had some news to pass along to both of us as I settled in.

"Maria and Liz called. Isabel, they didn't say what the wanted straight out, but Maria asked if you wanted to cut class tomorrow to go exploring out in the desert."

Isabel smiled. "Yeah, I think that'd be good."

----------

Liz Parker's diary:

No dreams that I can specifically remember last night, which counts as a good thing I think. Maria and Izzy and I met for breakfast together - not at the Crashdown, but a little coffee shop in the north end of town.

"Are you sure you wanna ditch and tag along with us, Liz?" Maria asked with a slightly teasing tone. "I got the flash from Michael - Isabel had the memory retrieval thing done with Tess. But, well, you don't have any specific info or skills to contribute."

"Maybe not, but I wanna come anyway," I insisted. "Not quite sure why. And there's no particular reason I need to show up at classes today, no scheduled tests or assignments due."

"Well, that's all well and good, Liz..." Isabel sighed. "But I'm not convinced that this should be a girl's club deal. For one thing, I'd like to drop in on Michael and ask him along. He's probably done more crawling around in the desert looking for hidden secrets than any of the rest of us. That could be valuable."

"Okay, he can come along too," I said, not sure I liked where this was headed.

"And Liz..." Isabel sighed. "Four kinda seems like too many. Big enough number to seem odd if somebody spots us out there. Enough people ditching to DEFINITELY form a pattern."

"Michael ditching doesn't add to a pattern," Maria said supportively. "It's the times he actually shows up at school that seem unusual."

I focused my attention on Isabel. "Are you saying that I *can't* come with??"

"No." Izzie took a deep breath. "It's your choice. But I don't think it's a good idea." She sighed. "Go to school, hang out with Max and Alex."

I frowned, upset at how upset I was that Isabel didn't agree with my own plan. But I decided not to make an issue of it. Isabel was kind of the informal team leader here, because Tess had enhanced her memory access. I didn't want to contradict her, and anyway what she was saying made sense.

So I went to my morning classes, and after third period convinced Max and Alex that we should all at least go off campus for lunch. (All three of us had a fourth period lunch.) We drove out to the barbecue stand, and I had a burger with double tomato slices, and some tangy lemonade to drink.

Alex got a grilled boneless chicken breast and an enormous pile of hashed browns, and Max had some kind of mexican steak and cheese wrap. We spread ourselves out over on of the picnic tables and generally had a nice time.

"Umm, excuse me?" I jumped and looked around - a woman had spoken right behind me. She was on the short side - maybe five-four or five-four and a half, and looked about my mom's age, with a soft cloud of dark blond hair hanging around her head, pale highlights running through it.

"Who are..." Alex started.

"I realize this must seem strange," she practically whispered. "By any chance are you friends of Tess Harding?"

Was this some strange new Special Unit gambit?? "Umm... you might say that," Max mumbled. "I've known her for a few weeks now. Say hi to her in the halls when I see her, but..."

The woman didn't seem to be paying much attention to what Max was saying after registering that it was a qualified affirmative. She was staring very intently at me, and suddenly asked, "Liz? Are you Liz Parker??"

Seriously freaked now, I barked, "What's it to you? What is going on here?"

So softly that I almost couldn't hear the words, the woman whispered, "I'm Tess' mother."

Oh. "Tess' mother... who's been *working* up in Santa Fe and didn't get a chance to visit Roswell?" Alex said.

She nodded. "Call me Evelyn. I, umm... I was able to get 'out of the office' early this morning, unexpectedly."

I looked at her, still not quite sure what to make of this development. Tess had said that she and her father had been pressured into working with the Special Unit because they had her mother as a hostage. So just what was Evelyn doing here in Roswell??

TO BE CONTINUED...


	15. Part 4e

MICHAEL:

"Are you ladies anywhere near finished??" I knew it wasn't a good thing to say about when it was halfway out of my mouth, but by then it was really too late to change to anything else and sound less impatient. "S--ssory." Isn't easy to say the word, though I've been trying to practice.

For something like eight or nine minutes, as far as I could tell, Maria and Isabel had been wandering up to a particular point in the desert and turning to face a particular direction. Then they'd make some sort of facial expression, possibly talk briefly to each other about it, and then go back and try again from a different direction or in a different way... maybe almost the same as before, maybe radically different. I understood the point of the exercise, at least I did in theory. Getting to that particular point in the landscape, where two irregular rocky hills appeared not far away, was the closest thing to the incubation pods that Isabel's memory and Maria's flash had come up with yet... they both recognized it immediately. We were pretty certain of that one spot, because it was the one spot where those two hills appeared to be the same size and so similar in shape that they could nearly be mirror reflections of each other... going just a few feet away destroyed the effect. So now the girls were trying to figure out from which direction little Isabel and little Michael (and little Max too,) had gotten to here from.

But they hadn't figured out anything before that no matter how hard they tried, and I guess I wasn't the only person it was making irritable. "I don't KNOW how long it's gonna take, Michael," Maria snapped as she strode past. "We work it here until we find someplace new. You know that."

Predictably, Isabel stepped in as the peacemaker. "Okay, chill. I think we're all tired and cranky... and hungry. Therefore I declare we should go back to the car and have lunch." Of course, Isabel is exactly the kind of person who'd remember to pack plenty of food before leaving to explore the desert for the hiding place of a set of alien incubation pods.

"Aww." Maria whined slightly, and Izzie shot her a sharply disciplined look. "Sorry. It's a good idea - I *am* hungry, but it seems like it'll be a long walk back."

"Do everything you can to remember this spot so we can find it without too much trouble later," I suggested.

Isabel looked all about her, moving around slightly, and then nodded to herself, well satisfied. "Don't think that'll be a problem. And Maria, I can probably go on ahead and drive part of the way back. Makes sense if we're going to be following the trail further."

"It would have been smart," she continued wistfully, "to switch cars with Max, since the Jeep is better for off-roading it. Didn't even think of that until too late."

"Something to remember, if there's ever a next time, I guess," Maria said. "C'mon, spaceboy, amble along with me."

I smiled. It looked like any resentment that Maria was holding towards me had flown right out the window when the subject of food came up, and that was just fine by me. "Do we have to amble? I'm kinduv in a shuffling mood myself." And as if to demonstrate, I made a big show of scuffing my feet in the dusty sand as I walked.

"Nah, i'skool. I can shuffle, ferr shore." And Maria mimicked my scuffing shuffle, as Isabel rolled her eyes and hurried on ahead. "Sorry that I gave you the snap, before."

I blinked and had to concentrate on disentangling her lingo for a few seconds before I got it all. 'Gave me the snap...' that sounded like a Buffy-istic way of talking about snapping at someone, as in speaking sharply. So I tried a colorful figure of speech for myself. "Water. Bridge. Long way under." Maria laughed pretty loud, which made the entire thing worth it.

"So, umm... any idea what you think you might find when we get to these incubation pods?" she asked me after some more shuffling. "I mean... it'd be nice to know where you came from, on a direct level... but do you really think anything there will be particularly helpful in the current crisis?"

"It's hard to say, before we get there," I admitted. "I wouldn't bet against it entirely. There might be some kind of weapon or tool around, something that'd be easier to figure out than the Orbs. Or even just a message might be helpful."

"Either of those, Nacero could have taken away," she pointed out. "Assuming that Tess' right, and he's found the place, been there recently. It doesn't sound like he really has any particularly strong impulse to help you guys, at the moment."

"No, I guess not," Michael admitted. "And that brings up something else. As far as we've been able to work out, Nacero is the only other alien kickin' around, right?" She nodded. "So... well, I was wondering just who took us from whatever spaceship we landed in to the place where we came out of the pods. Was Nacero in the same ship as us? Or was '47 just for him, and we came later, without being noticed... I think Topolsky said something about that once."

"I... I don't know the answers to any of those question, obviously," Maria said. "Maybe he did take your pods somewhere safe, and then whatever made him resent the three of you happened later. After you'd come out, and gotten found by people, say." I nodded. "Speaking of which, I was wondering something. Were you placed with Hank as quickly as Max and Isabel ended up with their folks??"

"Umm... not quite," I admitted. "I was in the westlake orphanage for a while, and then somebody decided that Hank was a better 'situation' for me." I frowned, trying to remember. "Yeah, I was in the orphanage for about a year and a half, and then they placed me with Hank early in the summer after I finished grade two. *That* was a fun school break." The chuckles that came out sounded hollow and bitter even to myself. "And the first day of school the next year, I met Isabel, and through her, Max. It was a few months after that that we really realized about our early memories, seeing the other kids in the desert, and that we'd been together back then."

"Wow," Maria said softly, shuffling along in silence for a while. Then she started talking about Chester, the dog she'd had when she was in grade two. Yeah, the one that I'd seen flashes of when I kissed her, around the same time that Max and Liz found the first alien orb. It didn't seem too long before Isabel drove up in the car, and she parked and got out the food and spread out an old blanket on the sand, like it was an impromptu picnic.

I was halfway through one of those tiny little (but tasty) packaged pudding cups when I thought of it. "The height!! Is it possible that that's what was throwing you guys off back there?"

Maria frowned. "The height of what??"

But Isabel saw it right away. "The height of us! You know... maybe it was." She turned to Isabel, who was staring in disbelief. "You may not be as tall as, well, as either of us, Maria, but even you are a lot taller than we USED to be, way back then. That changes the perspective, the view, slightly. We didn't notice it with the rocks so much because they're pretty big and impressively striking... but, well, maybe if we tried to allow for being, ehh, three foot nine or so, it could help."

"And just how do you intend to do that?" Maria asked. Isabel looked at her. "That's a whole lot of hunching over, especially for you Iz."

"Yeah," Isabel agreed with a sigh, taking out an apple and biting into it. "Better finish lunch quick so we can get it over with as soon as possible."

----------

Liz Parker's diary:

Max considered this woman who had approached us at the barbecue joint for just a second, looking intently into her eyes, and then jumped into action. First, he waved one hand around her with a gesture I recognized -- he was scanning Evelyn's body for spy devices, or anything else that might be dangerous.

A little decorative marble on her sweater shot away and exploded in mid-air between the picnic tables and the parking lot. A bunch of kids and other diners looked up and stared at the space where the bug had gone off - it sounded pretty much just like a loud firecracker, but somehow I thought it could have been more dangerous if it had been close to a person. Some jocks had managed to see where the 'cracker' had come from and evaluating the tables that were likely sources, which had them looking definitely in our direction.

Max didn't seem to care overmuch about that though. He had snatched away a few other suspicious items from around Evelyn's person, and then took her hand and led the way to the Jeep at a full-tilt dash. Alex followed, and I took up the rear, wondering if this was a bad idea.

Alex watched behind us as the Jeep screamed out down the road, until the parking lot and the picnic tables were just a blur of vague dots in the distance. No-one had followed us out, or come down the highway at all behind us, which seemed unusual, but might have been just a coincidence. Max turned to address Evelyn without taking his attention entirely away from driving. "That was just so that we could speak privately. I thought jumping into the unexpected might give us an edge."

"Thanks, it's appreciated," she muttered. "Nice trick getting rid of that booby-trapped conversation bulb. Especially since you didn't even touch it, and it was solidly fastened to my sweater with a pretty sturdy strand." I bent forward to hear their conversation better and realized that Evelyn was fiddling idly with the place where that strand of wooly fabric had been instantly and cleanly cut.

"Well, I have my talents," Max muttered softly. I realized what he was doing, or at least, what I thought he was doing. If this woman was really Tess' mother, she was a psionic, and probably knew that some of my friends were aliens, so a demonstration of unusual powers would probably tend to confirm that Max was one of them. But how she would react would tell us a lot about her, and if we could trust her.

"So, I'm guessing you're the infamous Max Evans," was the first thing she said. "And I'm sensing... that you're not sure whether to trust me."

"Can... what makes you say that?" I blurted out.

"Just ordinary human social judgement. My psionic talents don't run in that particular direction. Am I right about it?"

"I guess so," Max admitted. "I don't see any partucularly good reason to believe that you're Tess' mother."

"I suppose that's true," she admitted. "Well... she's been keeping me apprised of her own doings here in Roswell. Maybe none of the facts are ones that the Special Unit couldn't have gotten their hands on if they'd tried... but hopefully the way I tell them will remind you enough of Tess that you'll believe we're close... and just possibly that'll tell you it's okay to have confidence in me." Again, I wasn't quite sure of that reasoning... but there had to be some way to forge a bridge of trust even in these paranoid times, I guessed.

"Okay, let's see... when Tess first arrived in Roswell, the first members of the gang she approached were your sister Isabel, Max, and..." she turned around to face into the back seat at an angle. "And Alex Whitman. That's you, right??" Alex nodded. "She upset a few special unit agents by walking up to the two of you, Max, Liz, and giving you a warning when you were in the middle of a fancy dinner at a French restaurant, and helped Liz and Michael Guerin, escape from the Bandzfest with Agent Topolsky by running interference with the bluecoats that were following you and sending them the wrong way. How am I doing so far??"

"Umm, not bad," I admitted softly. Evelyn smiled slightly and kept talking, contributing plenty of details about the housewarming pool party that Tess had been pressured into throwing, with the six of us as guests of honor, the carefully contrived meeting that Tess and her father arranged with me in the woods, without the Unit's knowledge, and more recent events. All of it seemed to ring true with Tess' own perspective of the events, and even occasionally the very words and descriptions that she would use.

"Okay, okay," Max mumbled finally. "Let's say for the moment we believe that you're really Evelyn Harding, Tess' mother, and that we should help you. What do you want? I assume that just showing up at Tess' house, or the arcade where Mister Harding is working, would be very bad ideas."

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Evelyn agreed. "I... I have to admit I'm not sure I really planned ahead this far. Had a very brief window of opportunity to get out of protective custody at FBI Divisional and I jumped at it. Took a roundabout way of getting to Roswell, just in case they had people watching the main road... but they've probably guessed that I got here anyway, considering that it's just about the only place I would have gone." Deep breath. "What I need, I guess, is some place safe to hide out, someplace that THEY wouldn't particularly think to look for me, until you can get a message to Tess - and to Tony. If I know him, he'll have a plan up his sleeve for what to do if I were free. It's the way his mind works."

"Umm..." Alex muttered.

"The northview mall," I suggested. "It's small, it's run-down, but she could probably spend most of the rest of the day there without attracting much attention."

Max considered. "Yeah, that'll work. Umm... I'm going to pull over here, and Alex... could you take over as wheel man? I want to concentrate on what's going on around us."

"Um, sure," Alex said. The switch was carried off pretty quickly. Max went into the shotgun seat, and Evelyn came into the back, where Alex had been sitting, so that I was the only one who didn't move.

"Thanks for giving a hand," she whispered to me softly. "You don't know how much it means."

"I... I think I might be able to guess," I said, and meant it. If I'd been in her situation, feeling so alone and desperate, any friendly faces, even those of strangers would be a welcome boost.

"I can't detect any sign of the Special Unit at all," Max muttered, "which is almost starting to worry me. The little trick that we played on them yesterday can't have had that much effect."

"Yeah," Alex muttered. "But remember the other night. We can drive outselves crazy looking for government ops where there aren't any. Just take our best look and plan accordingly - that's the best that any of us can do." Max nodded, a little unhappily.

It wasn't too long after that that we dropped Evelyn off at the mall, promising to let Tess know discretely, as soon as possible, that she was in town. She asked to have a copy of our cell phone numbers, and after hesitating a moment Max wrote several sets of digits out from memory onto an old fast-food receipt. That wasn't information that the government didn't already have, after all - even if the worst came to pass.

Then it was time to boot back over to the school. "Things are happening so quickly," Alex muttered. "And I can't see where all of it is going to lead."

"Just hang on until the ride comes to a complete stop I guess," Max agreed. "And get out as quickly as we can when there's an opportunity."

"Stop the world," I joked. "I wanna get off."

"Uh-oh," Alex muttered, and both of us looked at him. "Oh, it's not more conspiracy danger or anything like that," he insisted quickly. "Just... I'm pretty sure there's going to be a pop quiz this afternoon in english Lit and I didn't study for it."

"Isn't part of the deal about a pop quiz that it's a surprise?" Max asked.

"Yeah... you have Nander for Lit, same as me," I said, "Those pop quizzes are killers! Have you known when they're scheduled for and held out on me?"

"Umm... I only figured out the pattern a few weeks ago, and it hasn't come up since then," he protested. "There's a staggered numerical pattern to the number of school days between quizzes... three days, then five, then three, then four, and repeat. If he has an announced, major test, it usually falls on a quiz day and replaces the surprise short-form quiz."

"Hmm... well, I got most of the reading done last night, after Maria dropped me off," I said. "We can drill each other in study hall."

-----------

I shot a questioning look at Tess as she came into math class, and gestured her over next to me. She came, a little surprised but not making too big a deal of it. Miz Levanson doesn't insist on a fixed seating chart or anything like that... "just as long as everyone shows up," she usually says. On this day, I knew that she wouldn't be particularly pleased, since Maria and Isabel were both in this class too, and as far as I knew neither of them had made it back to campus.

"So, Tess, how're you doing today?" I asked, trying not to let any other tone of meaning that 'friendly query' creep very obviously into my voice. We'd scared away direct Special Unit observation, as in the boys in blue following us, but then they'd rarely entered the school premises anyway. But the Special Unit had shown a lot of talent for dressing Tess up with little observation devices and so on, and I was very worried that that might be the case today. We hadn't figured out a way to get Max to screen her with his powers, like he had yesterday before we pulled Tess into the utility closet, but I guessed that she would know what was what, though there'd be something to keep her from ditching the bug herself.

Sure enough, right after she replied "okay I guess" in a perfectly 'bored teenager' tone, Tess pointed at something that looked like a long and wiry thread going through the fabric of her skintight jeans, only a slightly different shade of blue from the rest. Very quickly, she made the gesture of a blabbing mouth with the thumb and fingers of one hand, then passed her spread-out hand in front of her eyes. I got the message - her pants could pick up sound, either to transmit or store, but received no visual input. What must it be like getting dressed in her house, I wondered... if she could tell which clothes were bugged and how before she put them on? Presumably if it was physically possible for her to assemble an outfit with no observation devices, someone would notice, make her go and get dressed 'properly' before she left for school.

Well, I knew what to do about this situation, or thought I did. If you can't talk without being overheard... write a note. It was simple enough to open up my binder to a fresh page of lined three-ring and start writing. I didn't even bother tearing the paper out, since that might call attention to the fact that Tess and I were 'passing notes.' Wrote down: 'we saw your mom today... she was able to get away from work and come down to see you and your dad... but she's not sure how to get in touch.' Then I angled the binder so that Tess could see it pretty easily and tapped the message.

She gasped so loud that some of the other students looked at us, and that was just when the teacher came in and started taking the roll. She even asked me if I knew where Maria was, and I was only just able to mumble "not exactly." Mallamar Smythe said, loud enough for half the class to hear, that she was probably off crawling around with Michael Guerin somewhere, and that was actually pretty close to the truth as I understood it. What with all of that, it was a while before Tess got a chance to write a note of her own into my book.

'Mom? How did she get loose? Are you sure that it was her??'

Ummm... I pretended to pay attention to the class for a long while as I thought about that question. 'Not sure. I never met your mom. Can you tell me a little more of what she's like?'

Tess also seemed a little thrown by the question, which I could understand... I'm not sure what I'd say if someone asked me to quickly sum up MY mom under similar circumstances. And the teacher started taking up some of the assigned homework questions from yesterday, so we both had to get our answers out and review them a little so that we might be able to explain something if called on. She wrote the next bit in a bunch of little bits. 'She's great... drives me crazy, in the way that all moms do, and possibly a little more because she can sometimes guess what I'm not telling her. Funny in a slightly teenager-in-the-seventies kinda way... And absolutely devoted to me and Dad. Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't be so surprised that she found her way here.'

'Yeah, that sounds like her,' I wrote back. 'Let your dad know when you can. She doesn't want to go anywhere *they'll* be looking for her, but somehow we'll find a way.'

'Thanks.' "Umm... the line is, err, 13.41 inches long," Tess said aloud to the teacher, "and we find that by applying the tangent of 63 degrees to the known adjacent side."

----------

MARIA:

"Oh, no, it's three twenty!" I practically jumped in surprise. "We've got to head back into town. I've got shift."

Isabel looked up, startled, and then stood. We'd been crawling along, trying to get the six-year-old's eye view of the desert landscape. "You're kidding." I didn't say anything right away. "Come on -- we're almost there! At this rate, what, it'll be three minutes more."

"It might be," Michael said softly. "Or... well, it could just as easily be fifteen or more. Hard to say about this kind of stuff. And then once we find it, nobody'll want to leave right away..." he sighed. "I'm with Maria. We've been gone for long enough anyway, and we won't lose the progress we've made today. Both of us have to show up for work on time, or as close as is possible, so that no new people start asking questions."

Isabel sighed, apparently deciding it wasn't worth the effort to keep arguing with both of us. "Alright, then, let's hurry back as quickly as we can. I groaned as she turned about and hurried back the way we'd come, setting the pace at a brisk jog. I did my best to keep up.

Got a really bad leg cramp halfway to the car, and felt bad about holding the others up, when I'd been the first to say that we had to go. Michael very sweetly walked beside me for a bunch of the way, letting me lean on his arm so that I wouldn't need to put much weight on the leg. Isabel kept telling me that I didn't really need to push myself so hard, but I didn't really mind... I *did* want to get to the cafe before too much of my shift had gone by, and knew that during the drive, there'd be time for my leg to recover. Sure enough, it was almost totally fine by the time we got to the Crashdown parking lot.

Max and Alex were hanging around in the dining room, and Isabel rushed forward and practically threw herself into Alex's lap, which was more of a public display of affection than I'm really used to seeing from her. "Where's Liz?" I asked Max as I limped through, heading for the back to change into my uniform.

"Oh... she's upstairs, said she had to get working right away on some trig assignment."

"Eh, okay." There was plenty for Michael and I to do for a while after that... orders to be taken, cooked, delivered, paid for... you know - the usual. I saw Isabel and Max and Alex chatting for a long time, really whispering about something, and wished that I could go over and whisper too, but I really didn't have a chance for a long time... long enough that they stopped the whispering and were chatting more casually. Finally, once Brenda showed up and the early-dinner rush ebbed a little, I was able to take a quick break and ask them all what it was about.

"We... we got an unexpected visitor at lunch today," Alex murmured. "Tess' mom."

"What? Really!?" Quickly, in very hushed tones, Max and Alex told me a little more of the story, while Isabel looked from one to another of them with a serious face... presumably this was the second time she was hearing it.

"So many weird things that we're not sure what to do about," I whispered softly. "I... I have to say, I'm so tired of all this. Is there ever going to be an end to it?"

"Yes, and it's going to be soon," Max said, with a quiet certainty that surprised me. "Not... not to say that things won't always be a little unusual for us... and for you guys too, if you keep hanging out with us. But this murderously intense chess game with the special unit is going to end, and before long." He cracked a little grin. "Don't be too worried. We'll beat them at their own game - somehow."

I smiled and got up to serve some coffee.

----------

Liz Parker's diary:

I had just moved on from today's math assignment to an english lit term paper when my cell phone rang. "Umm, err, hello?" I said once I'd managed to hit the right button.

"Liz?? It's Evelyn. I'm still at the mall."

"Uhh, okay..." I checked the clock... it was only a little bit past six. "That's, um, that's nice."

"Sorry, I'll get right to the point. I've found out that one of Tony's old friends is also here in Roswell, secretly. I have an address and a time when I'm supposed to meet with him, but I'm not sure if I can find my way there by the buses and... well, I'm a little worried about calling a cab. One of the Special Unit's favorite tricks is to get someone into the local taxi dispatching office, just looking for any calls that seem even slightly unusual..."

"It's okay, Evelyn. I, um, I'd love to help, but I don't have a car to offer you a ride."

"Can't you get ahold of one, quickly?? I'm sorry, but this is important, and I didn't know who else to come to."

"Ummm..." I thought about it. "Yeah, I'll be in the south parking lot in fifteen or twenty minutes."

"Thanks. See you then." I hung up, and slipped downstairs. Maria and Michael were busy, and Max, Isabel, and Alex were still talking out in their booth up front. (I spotted them through the door, just a glimpse.) Not really wanting to bug any of THEM about this, I slipped into Maria's locker, got the Jetta keys, and wrote a quick message for her. I was in the parking lot before it occured to me to wonder why Maria even had the Jetta keys in the first place - or why the Jetta was here, since Maria had presumably come with Isabel and Michael. Had she left the car here this morning? No, Isabel had picked both of us up for breakfast at our homes.

Well, maybe Maria's mom had dropped the car off for Maria to use, to get home when her shift was done, and walked home herself. Yeah, that made a little sense. I got behind the driver's seat, took a second to get familiar since it was a few weeks ago the last time I drove a car, and pulled out to head for the mall.

I found a parking spot not too far from the south entrance to the mall, and by the time I got around and started looking, Evelyn Harding was already heading towards me. "Where to?" I asked.

"Umm... it's four seven eight South Elm avenue, near west chisum," she replied. "Know where that is?"

"More or less -- shouldn't be too difficult to find." It was more than halfway across town, though. I didn't say much to her for the first few minutes of driving.

"There was another reason I called you instead of calling a cab," Evelyn whispered. "Did you... did you manage to talk to Tess at school today?"

My sour mood melted mostly away. Of course that was what she was most concerned about! "Yeah, yeah I did. She's glad you're in town, and proud that you managed to get here. Can't wait to see you."

Evelyn smiled. "Thanks. I needed to hear that."

It wasn't too long before we pulled up in front of number four seven eight, which was a converted storefront. "Okay, here you go."

"Yes, here I am. Liz, would you like to come in for a moment to meet Ryan? He might have a few questions for you - it could really help."

I hesitated, then pulled the key out of the ignition. "Alright, but I can't stay long."

----------

MAX:

"Hey, that's weird," Maria said, heading out of the kitchen and quickly hurrying over. The Crashdown was quite empty for a weeknight -- everyone who had been in here earlier had finished their dinners and left... well, almost everyone. There were a few people still eating, or drinking a soft drink and reading, near the front door, but that was all. Alex and Izzie and I had moved to a table near the kitchen, to take greater advantage of the relative privacy.

"What's weird?" Alex asked.

"Um... Liz left this note for me," Maria whispered, putting it on the table. The writing was clear, if a little less neat than Liz's usual script, which suggested she'd been in a hurry. 'Hey Maria, borrowing the wheels. I had to go back to the mall and pick something up real quick. LP'

"Back to the mall?" I muttered. Liz wasn't really a mallwalker type, but given that we'd been to Northview today and she said 'go back'... this had something to do with Evelyn Harding.

"Why would she just go and not tell us, except for this vague reference?" Alex muttered, puzzled.

"I don't know," I said, getting up. "But I intend to find out. Something seems... I dunno, I just want to find out what's going on as quickly as possible."

Something happened then, and I didn't even realize what I was doing before I'd done it. Somehow I was mentally sweeping an area for blocks around, maybe a circle a quarter-mile in radius, for Liz's... her mind? Liz's soul?? I hadn't realized that I could do that, but in retrospect I realized that I'd been in contact with her on a subconscious level, whenever we'd been close enough to each other, since... since the pool party? Maybe even longer??

Well... that was an idea. A quarter-mile range 'scanner' wasn't enough to cover, umm... less that a percent of town at a time, but it was better than trying to cruise around and recognize her by sight. "We'll start at the mall and work outwards from there."

"Uhh... we will?" Isabel asked. "I'm... I'm all for finding out what happened to Liz, Max, but are you sure that there isn't a better way?"

"Like what?" I asked, a little too loudly. "We don't know how to get in touch with Evelyn..."

"But we know how Evelyn got in touch with Liz," Alex put in. "Her cell phone. She'd have taken it with her, right??"

"Maybe," Michael said. He'd come out of the kitchen to join into the conversation. "Someone should go upstairs into the Parker's place and call from there. That way, if Liz left her phone up there, it shouldn't be hard to hear it ringing.

The three of us who weren't still on the clock rushed upstairs. Alex called, and Isabel and I went to different places in the apartment listening. We couldn't hear anything, and Isabel checked Liz's desk and didn't see the phone, but nobody picked up except the answering message service.

"Maybe she accidentally turned it off when she took it," Alex muttered. "Dammit."

"Or there's a weird cell-phone thing," I said. "Well, I'm going in the Jeep. Either of you want to come along??"

"Oh, I'm totally there," Alex insisted. Isabel paused a moment, and then nodded.

We went downstairs, told Michael and Maria that we were leaving, and headed out to the Jeep. Isabel left the keys to mom's car with Michael, so that they would have some wheels when their shift was up. Tore out to the mall, parked, and even though I was pretty sure that Liz was nowhere around here anymore, we split up to quickly search through the mall premises itself. No sign of Liz, no trace of Ms Harding.

"What next??" Isabel asked.

"Sshhh," I told her, and started walking towards the nearest entrance... then out the door, and to a parking lot not far from the mall. It might have been just imagination, but I felt like I could sense Liz, very faintly... as if she had been right here, not long ago. Close enough to touch, though she wasn't nearly as close now.

"Are you... are you getting anything useful, Max?" Alex asked. I thought about that for a second.

"Maybe." Tossed my keyring to Isabel. "Can you bring the Jeep over, right here? I'd rather not lose this fix until I have wheels." She shrugged and ran over.

My idea was to try and follow Liz's trail, until I could sense her directly. For a while it looked like it was working... south three blocks, then east for at least half a mile along fourteenth street. But I wasn't sure where the sense just kind of gradually faded away, and I pulled off to the side of the street and parked as soon as I was sure I was just going based on wishful thinking and inertia. Desperate, I turned to Isabel, sitting next to me in the passenger seat, and asked, "Give me your hand."

"Umm... why?" But then, without waiting for an answer, she put her hand into mine... we'd practiced a little stuff about working together and combining our powers, before all of this stuff with the Special Unit really started, and I was counting on it now. Based on what I knew already, I was guessing that Liz and Evelyn had gone somewhere east-south-east or maybe south-east of here. Drawing on Isabel's own energy, I tried to throw a thought out in that general direction, hoping that the natural resonance between Liz and I would guide it to her.

My mental energy hit something, but it pretty clearly wasn't Liz. There was a response, a kind of mental contact, and words coming back through. *Max?? What on earth are you doing?*

*Umm... Evelyn? Is that you??* I hadn't realized that she had this kind of mental communication power... or was the power mine, and she'd just managed to substitute herself for Liz, the way I'd been hoping to communicate with her.

*Yes! The Special Unit has psionics here in Roswell. If I could intercept your transmission, they can too. You DON'T want that to happen.*

Okay, But before I let her terminate the link, there was one question I had to ask. *I'm trying to find Liz. Where is she?*

*Umm... she must be nearly back home by now. She dropped me off about fifteen minutes ago. But something's come up since then... can we meet??*

Everything was changing too fast. I wanted to consult with the others, but I wasn't sure if I could talk to them without losing contact. That seemed to suggest that I should give her an answer quickly, and even though I was uncertain about all this, I didn't want to risk upsetting her by saying a quick 'no'. Evelyn might be an important ally, and I wanted to stay on her good side. So. *Yeah, alright. Where??*

*West Chisum and South Garden. Are you alone??*

*No... Isabel and Alex are with me. We'll be there soon.*

*Okay. And for goodness sake, Max - don't try contacting Liz like this again!!*

I sighed, dropped the link, and quickly explained to the others about what had happened. "I'm calling Maria," Alex said instantly. "Ask them if Liz came back yet."

"Do that," Isabel agreed, and I nodded. Alex dialed, and it didn't take too long for him to get an answer apparently.

"Hey, is Liz there?? No? Okay, Max apparently talked to Evelyn, and she said Liz was heading back home... oh, really??" Alex turned to talk to Isabel and me. "Tess just showed up in the Crashdown."

I smiled. "Okay... we're gonna arrange a little surprise reunion. Tell them to come now. Close up if they have... no, maybe Maria should stay there, just in case Liz shows up and worries about all of us being gone. But... tell Michael that we'll meet them at McGaffey and Garden."

"You don't want to go ahead and meet Evelyn right away, let her know that Tess is coming?" Isabel asked, looking a little confused.

"No. Not sure why... maybe that we can all help protect each other, just in case the special unit goons are about." Isabel nodded.

So I got to McGovern, a few blocks away from the rendezvous co-ordinates, and it wasn't too many minutes later that another car arrived with Michael and Tess in it. We said some hellos... I did a passive 'sense' for Liz just one more time, hoping against hope, and then convoyed south.

There was a car parked a few lengths from the corner, on Chisum, a muted red four-door sedan, and two people standing on the sidewalk... Evelyn and a man of about her age... not Tony Harding, but a short guy with a bright, clever face and a short mess of dark hair. I parked next to them, and realized that Michael and Tess seemed to be yelling at us as they came close. It wasn't until they were nearly behind us, and the two grown-ups were walking close, that I realized Tess was yelling -- "Max!! THAT ISN'T MY MOTHER!!!"

A wave of cold dread flowed through my veins. I made sure that the ignition of the car was still engaged, and brought my left hand, wondering what I would be able to do with it. Evelyn... no, the mystery woman who was NOT Evelyn Harding, and her friend were only a few feet away from the front left bumper of the Jeep now. Michael had pulled up beside us in the middle of the street, Tess practically leaning over him to glare daggers at the impostor.

Well then... "Who are you *really*?" I asked the woman who had convinced us all she was Tess' mother. Convinced Liz... and gotten Liz to go somewhere with her. "Where is Liz?"

"Agent Pierce, I presume," Tess called out. "Danielle Pierce - the true head of the Special Unit." Danielle turned to look at Tess, and nodded, just slightly.

My heart turned to ice. What had she done to my soulmate??

-----------

(Liz Parker's diary.)

I'm keeping this diary entry in my head, because they won't give me something to write on, and I'm not sure I'd use pen and paper even if they did, for fear that they'd try to take it and use it against me.

I was stupid, obviously. I trusted Evelyn... or whoever she really is, without any real evidence. Of course she was able to act enough like Tess' real mother to satisfy her based on vague descriptions... but the Special Unit must have tons of information on Tess' whole family. They'd be able to prep an impostor to do a very careful mimicry, especially for someone who didn't actually know the real Ms Harding.

Max and I, all of us, we were so careful and so cynical, except when it came to the one person who we should have been more skeptical about. Did she get into our heads, just a little bit, to make us trust her? That's a question that I'm not sure how to answer.

I don't really remember much about what happened after I got out of the Jetta. We probably went into the building... and then I guess somebody knocked me out... with gas, or a physical blow, or maybe just with a psionic attack. That part doesn't really matter.

And I woke up here, in a gray, dimly lit, featureless prison cell. No bars, no doors that I can really identify given the lighting level. One piece of the wall seems to be mirrored. The light comes from glowing greenish spots, high up on the wall. My wrists are cuffed together, and secured to the floor underneath the bed with a heavy, thick cable that's obviously indestructible as far as anything I could do to it with my bare hands. It's probably titanium covered with smooth black plastic, or something like that.

All I can do is sit, or lie down, and wait. I don't know what they have planned for me, if my friends, if Max, will ever be able to rescue me from here. I just sit here and think about how I let them all down, how I got stupid and caught.

I can hardly even bear to think about my immediate future.

TO BE CONTINUED... IN SECTION FIVE!!


	16. Part 5a: Caught in a box

TESS:

"Pierce!" Max shouted, looking daggers at the woman who had tricked him. I thought of trying to pretend that we weren't onto her, but that seemed especially futile now. Better to let my friends play this out as they thought best, for the time being at least. I felt horribly guilty for how everything had worked out so far... maybe if I'd given Liz more details about my mother, she'd have been able to see through the deception, even with Pierce trying to cloud her mind, and not been foolish enough to let herself get caught.

"Hello, Max," Danielle Pierce replied sunnily, her voice completely calm and level. She was projecting loudly enough to be heard over the distance that seperated us, but without shouting or even seeming like she was raising her voice. "Beautiful day here in Roswell, hm?"

Max seemed enraged by the casual attempt at small talk - which might be why Pierce had made it. "What did you do to Liz?"

"She's fine, Max! She's enjoying the hospitality of a few of my FBI friends... but then, you guessed as much already, didn't you? No -- don't try to use your powers to attack me here, not if you want to see her alive again. I've taken care of that much." Max shook his head in frustration.

"We'll agree to a short truce if you do," Isabel called out. "Once threatening move, though, and all bets are off."

"Understood." Danielle nodded agreement as readily as if Isabel had proposed a restaurant for a meal out.

I stepped up between Max and Isabel at this point, hoping to help them maintain a united front. "Max, I think I'll be able to sense it if she tries to use Psionic power. Give you warning."

"Don't think," Max advised with a bitter, tortured laugh. "Just do it." I nodded, hoping and praying that I was up to the task of matching wits against Pierce, if she wanted to try using the Power in some subtle way that I might not be looking for automatically.

But right now, all Danielle seemed to be doing was speaking again. "I had hoped to catch both of you at a single stroke, Max, as an F.Y.I. But... well, you can never anticipate how a chaotic situation will behave, and you were with your sister and your friends the whole time. Liz was alone, and vulnerable, and I made my move. That's life for you."

Max had to struggle not to spit in disgust, revolted at the casual way Pierce was talking about kidnappings. I was pretty offended too, come to think of it. "So... we know that you've got Liz, we know that you're really the ultimate Maestro of the Special Unit. What happens next? Do you want to deliver some kind of demand or ultimatum? Do we just leave and go our seperate ways until next meeting?"

"Hmm..." Danielle considered, whispered a few words with her unnamed confederate, and stepped just a bit closer... not trying to be threatening, I decided, just hoping to say this next bit in a hushed and dramatic voice without being completely unheard. "Little from column A and B, I think. Yes, we can both go our seperate ways, I think. You'll want to try to find Liz and rescue her... and I might get a good opportunity when you do. Meanwhile, there are other projects in my Master Plan that I really should be checking in on. And I'll do better than extending an offer or an ultimatum... I'll make an offer that you're free to take me up on, or not, as you choose. If you really want to free Liz from the tender mercies of my friends, then one way to do it is simple. One of the three of you, Max, Michael -- or Isabel. Any of you can volunteer to exchange places with her, under a few conditions that I'll insist on to guard against trickery." There was no reply. "No takers yet? Well, that's okay. Tess will know how to get in touch with me without letting my tech boys track your location, I think." And with that, Special Agent Danielle Pierce turned to walk down the sidewalk, away from the five of us.

WHAMM! So suddenly that I could hardly tell what was happening... there was a bright flash of light streaking towards Pierce, and the sound of an explosion. Dirt and grass spouted into the sky and began to fall at differing rates. Danielle, untouched by the blast no more than a foot away from her feet, half turned to look back, and saw Max with his hand stretched out. A little clump of dirt landed on her nose, and she wiped it off, blushing slightly, and resumed walking.

"That was... not the brightest thing I've ever seen you do, Max," Isabel pointed out. "But maybe the ballsiest, actually."

"Considering what she did to Liz, I'm a little surprised you waited so long, Maxwell," Michael chimed in approvingly from behind us. "You agreed not to hurt her, but firing a warning shot isn't the same thing. She'd be stupid to hurt Liz over something that simple, and it keeps a bit of the power on our side."

"Not enough of it, though," Max muttered darkly. "We need to move, move fast, and see if somehow we can get one step ahead of Pierce. What's our first tactic?"

"Back out into the desert," Isabel said. "We were *almost* at the alien cave! Maria and I can find it this time, I'm sure... and maybe we'll find something there that can help."

"We need every edge that we can get," I said. "I... I want to get in touch with my father, though - ASAP. Partly because he still thinks that Mom is running around free, somewhere here in Roswell, and he *needs* to know that it's actually Pierce who's come to town. Also, he might be able to help, a bit more directly."

"How can he help?" Michael muttered suspiciously. Clearly he didn't want either me or my father getting close to their secrets, no matter what. "Isn't he still being blackmailed into helping the Special Unit? Won't your mom - your real mom, be hurt if he doesn't toe the line?"

"Maybe... maybe the rules of that have changed, slightly," Max said, softly, to himself. "After all... he's had credible evidence that Evelyn Harding is here in Roswell... evidence that traces back to Pierce herself, so she can't really punish him for acting on it."

"She could punish him - or Evelyn - for his disloyalty," Isabel put in. "It's not like you don't arrest someone for stealing because he thought nobody was minding the store."

"I... I'm not sure of the details," I said. "But I think that the rules really *have* changed as far as Dad and me obviously getting involved, even if the reason why might be buried inside Pierce's head. After all, she didn't show any signs of being upset at me blowing her cover."

"Maybe she just thinks it'd be easier to tell what you're up to, if you feel like you can openly associate with us," Alex put in. "Rather than trying to sort out your fake shows of loyalty from your true motivations."

"Certainly you should call him," Max told me. "And, speaking of alien secrets... we need to fetch Topolsky's orb. It's got power... power that might help us defend ourselves, or rescue Liz."

"But we still don't know how to use it," Michael pointed out.

"I know," Isabel said. "But we need that power now. And necessity is the mother of great discoveries."

----------

We waited for my Dad at an abandoned quarry that the rest of the kids all knew about. For a while, all five of them just hung around silently, several of them shooting black or uncomfortable expressions at me, and then Max broke the quiet. "As a hypothetical question, Tess... if you had to send a message to Nacero, do you think you'd be able to make him understand something simple? I realize that whether he'd be willing to listen and do anything we ask him for is a crap shoot, but does the connection you have work that way too?"

"Umm... I'm not sure," I admitted. "I've never tried, obviously... didn't want him to get upset with me speaking inside his head. I think I'd have a pretty good shot, though... I know that other telepaths can project thoughts when they've got a good strong connection, and I've always had a stronger link with mister N than with any of the three of you." Sighed. "What about you, Isabel? Do you think you'd be able to dreamwalk our alien friend?"

Isabel jumped slightly. "I... I don't think so. Leaving aside the question of whether he sleeps and dreams like regular people -- I always need to have a clear picture of the face of whoever I'm dreamwalking. Usually a physical image, a photograph or whatever, though I think, knowing what I've learned just recently, I might be able to do it off a mental image for anyone I know well. Nacero, though... if he has a true face, none of us have seen it. Without that, I can't forge the link."

"Fair enough," I replied. "Just wanted to ask." Looked around. "Is... is there something that I should know? All of you seem to be acting a little weird."

"We... the last few times we came up here," Maria pointed out, "It was the five of us and Liz. I guess I'm just a little wigged at how you seem to have taken her place."

"Oh, god... okay, yeah, I get how that could be weird," I replied. "You... you know that I'd never have wanted that, right? I'm here to help you get her back... nothing else matters."

"Getting your mom, your real mom, to safety matters too," Alex said softly. "But yeah... Liz is uppermost in our minds I think."

"Do you have any idea what Pierce's people might be doing to Liz?" Max asked me. "How strong are her psionic powers? Just meeting the three of us briefly, Me, Liz, and Alex... she was able to throw us all off balance, mentally, I think... and plant the seeds for trapping both Liz and I. I was lucky to escape! Now that she's got Liz all by herself..." He couldn't even seem to manage to finish his thought.

"Well... first, they're going to want to examine her physically," I said slowly. "To see if they can find any residual trace of her healing, that might tell them about your healing powers..."

----------

LIZ:

"Hello, hello in there??" I'm not sure if I had nodded off or just zoned out staring at the wall. There wasn't really anything else to do in that depressing room, and sitting and thinking had gotten me way too bummed out. But it sounded like something new was happening. My eyes had to adjust to the dim light all over again, but then I saw that there was a door, or maybe just a square opening in the wall, and two armed guards, holding small rifles or something, were stepping through and standing at each side of the opening.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm in here, of course," I grumped. "Where the hell else would I be?" Actually, come to think of it, my body might need to stay stuck here in FBI central, but if I could zone out completely, so easily, then maybe I could just lose myself in some kind of a daydream... about Max, thinking about him. Like Westley in 'The princess bride', the book version, when he was in the Zoo of death, and could just picture Buttercup's face to withstand torture... until he got put in the Sucking Machine. Okay, Liz, stop thinking about torture and stuff - that's *not* helpful in this situation.

"Yes, miss. Please do not attempt to hurt facility personnel, leave any particular area without explicit permission, or hide in a small space. It might be best if you do not move or touch anything before being instructed to." Oh lordy... like I couldn't guess that they didn't want me to do any of that stuff. But it kind of fits with government thinking, that they felt they had to warn me specifically.

"Please stand back," the other guard advised, and while the first one covered me with his gun, this guy went over, unlocked the other end of my cable, and then locked it up to his own waist. Okay, that made some sense... now I'd be able to leave the room, but not to get very far away from the guard unless I could undo the connection it made between us somehow, which of course, wouldn't be easy. (Could I just leave the cable locked to his belt, undo the belt, and take that? No, it didn't seem to have a typical belt buckle of course. Plus, even if I ran away, how could I really get out of this complex??

It seemed better to play along until I had a much better opening. Without saying a word, the strong dutiful guardsmen led me down the hall to another room, some kind of a doctor's laboratory or examination room. I was plugged into the wall here, and one of the guards left. Oh, along the way, I noticed that the door to my room had apparently been pulled out of the wall and pulled up into the hallway (the ceiling of which was maybe twenty-five feet high.) "Up on the examining table," the other one said, feeling it necessary to make a slight pointing gesture with his gun. I hopped up as casually as I could... wishing that I had some gum so I could blow a bubble insouciantly or something. But of course, there was non.

"Should I strip off?" I asked him, fiddling very obviously at the sleeve of my shirt, just trying to provoke some kind of reaction.

"That is not required yet."

Well, that was kind of a reaction, if not a very interesting one. I dangled my feet off the edge of the table for a little while longer. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to get very far taking my shirt off anyway... well, I could probably get it so that it was all bundled around my hands and forearms, but no further, given that my wrists were shackled to that darn cable.

Soon new people showed up... a woman in a doctor's white coat, and another guard, also a woman. That seemed to fit with what I was expecting to come next. The guy guard left, the door closed behind him, and the doctor turned to me. "Hello, Miss Parker. I understand if you're upset about being here, anywhere in the complex I mean, but I would suggest that you come to terms as well and quickly as you can. Venting your displeasure against me will not improve your situation at all... rather the reverse, if you choose to express yourself too vehemently."

I chuckled wryly, even though some part of me had decided that I liked this doctor woman better than anyone else I'd met in the special unit so far. (Which still wasn't very much, as you might imagine.) "It'd feel good, for a little bit, though."

"I suppose that's true enough, and nothing I can say will take away the prospect of that small satisfaction," she agreed. "Up to you if you want to avail yourself, though as I've said, there could be consequences." She held up a small metal device, only about as big as a pencil eraser. "This will deactivate your restraints, for here and now, if I can insert into the appropriate spot. The door has been locked from the outside, and if you become unruly or take an unallowed-for action, the entire examining room will be flooded with knockout gas before they open it up again."

"So, that suggests that someone else is going to be watching us while you work," I said.

"Yes. Another woman, though I realize that may not be a tremendous comfort to your sensibilities. We are doing the best we can to accomodate your likely objections, but there's a job to do, and I intend to do it without giving you an opportunity to escape. I regret the necessity, but..."

"Okay..." I sighed. "I'll play nice, for now - on one condition. Tell me your name." Doctor-lady's eyes widened... I had obviously caught her by suprise with that. "Doesn't have to be your first name, I realize that all doctors don't like giving that out and letting patients address them too familiarly. I suppose I'm some sort of a patient now. But right now you're just some kind of anonymous authority figure in a lab coat, and that's even worse than being doctor so-and-so. You probably know quite a bit about me, so I'm asking for one name."

She smiled a bit. "My name is Enid Richards, and I'd appreciate it if you called me Doctor Richards." With that, she stepped forward slightly, and slipped her little gizmo into my left wrist shackle. There was a humming noise for a second and a half, and then both shackles popped open and fell down onto the floor. "Okay, could you please take off all your clothes now please?"

I have to admit, even at that point I was still expecting something horrible and terrifying to be part of the examination, considering that it was coming courtesy of the dreaded Special Unit. Something so unspeakable that I couldn't even tell you what I was expecting. But there wasn't anything. It was a very thorough physical, and a few samples were taken out of me in places that I wouldn't have expected in Doctor Barnhart's family practice office, but aside from that the experience seemed much the same. Things seemed to drag out some, and I'm not quite sure how long before the whole thing was over... maybe an hour, maybe an hour and twenty minutes. Richards unplugged the other end of my cable from her office wall, and got it attached to a dealie in the lady guard's belt. "You're going to have to put these on," she said, handing over a pile of folded yellow linen. For a second, upset, I looked around for the street clothes that I had taken off -- one of my favorite pair of blue jeans, that I know Max really liked to see me in, and a black t-shirt that I was relatively indifferent to. Getting upset about losing the jeans was pretty crazy, I knew, under the circumstances, but it was a craziness that buffered me from the pain and loneliness and worry, and I cherished it.

There was no sign of my stuff anywhere, not even a shoe. Obviously they wouldn't have slipped it out of the room... that would be a security risk, especially while I was unrestrained. But there were locked cabinet doors under the examining table, and Richards could have snuck my clothes in there while I wasn't looking. Groaning, I unfolded the new threads... a thick yellow button shirt, with long sleeves, and yellow pants, big enough to be a little baggy on me, I guessed. They looked a little like prison uniform, but not quite. "This is all I get?" I asked quietly. Not even underwear, but I supposed that that made sense. They'd want it to be as unlikely as possible that I'd go without wearing these clothes... and as noticeable as possible if I did.

"Yes." Richards nodded slowly, a slightly regretful look on her face, and I slipped into the ugly clothes. Expected them to fit quite badly, as they looked like one-size-misfits-all, and I wasn't a particularly common body type. However, the match was close enough that they might have been specially made... not cut to the same requirements as stuff that I'd buy for school, of course, but... just how much had the Special Unit known about my measurements, I wondered. How much did they know about the little details of my friends' lives that they'd never have even thought of?

I submitted with uneasy grace as Richards re-fastened my wrist shackles, and the guard led me out the door, there meeting up with one of my original guardsmen, and marched me back into the same confinement cell. Cable was transferred back into... actually, there's a small but important detail about the restraint cable that I almost forgot to mention. Guy-guard handed girl-guard another little metal device that she put into her belt, but it didn't work at popping the cable out of her belt so she could plug it back in under my bed, and they had to call another guard to bring over some kind of technician to sort us all out. I didn't pick up exactly what the problem had been, but my mind was racing. It wasn't enough, if I wanted to escape, to just find a metal eraser-head dealie - I had to find the right one that was programmed to undo the right locks for wherever I was and whenever it was happening, and I wasn't sure how I'd be able to tell that beforehand. Still, it was better to know the difficulty beforehand I supposed... though it was probably also better for the Special Unit, since they might be able to scare me out of making an escape attempt that wouldn't work out and would just cause both of us a lot of pain.

And eventually they got me plugged into the cell, and I lay there on my bed, daydreaming of Max... of making out with him in his room, with sunlight streaming in through his window... Max's eyes looking down at me with such love and tenderness...

I did my best to get lost in those eyes, to fall into my own mind and drown in them.

----------

ISABEL:

I'd had my arm around Alex ever since we left that Chisum sidewalk where Agent Pierce had been exposed. I felt like I could hardly have seperated from him even for a moment. (Well, maybe just a split second, when we were getting out of the car.) Everything was getting much too real, too dangerous and scary. The notion that Liz, of all people, would be the one to fall into such dire straits, had been the one who was paying for Pierce's obsession with aliens, had thrown my mind into a tailspin. She *didn't* deserve that - any of this... and she had had more than her share of bad luck just getting herself shot in the first place. She loved Max so much, and he her, and they made each other happy... that, more than anything else, colored my thoughts about her and made me feel protective. And there was not a single thing that I could think of doing to help her.

For a second, I struggled with an urge to try dreamwalking Liz, but it was hard to avoid the fact that that wouldn't be the trick that saved her this time. The fact that Liz probably wasn't dreaming right now was incidental... much more serious was the notion that we were going up against other telepaths, who must by now have a notion of our powers. Pierce had intercepted the probe that Max had used to try finding Liz, had been able to keep him from getting through and talk to him, planting the seeds of a trap that had almost let her capture more of us as well. What kind of precaution would she be able to take against a dreamwalk? Might Pierce, or one of the Special Unit psionics working with her, be able to trap me in a nightmare that I couldn't get out of? In any event, as long as contacting Liz with our powers was something that Pierce would be expecting us to do, we couldn't do any such thing.

"I know it's scary," Alex whispered, close to me ear. I turned my head up slightly to look at him. "But you're stronger than you think, or than Pierce thinks. All of you. You'll find some way to get Liz back, to make Pierce sorry she ever set foot in Roswell. I'm sure of that."

I smiled just a bit. "If we're strong, then we're strong together... *all* of us. I know you might feel like you're a weak link, but you're really not. You may not have fancy alien powers, but you contribute in other ways. You've got a brilliant mind that sees solutions where the rest of us only see problems -- and also, you're my inner strength Alex. When I feel like I don't have the courage to go on further, you walk by my side, and just holding your hand I don't notice the miles." Pause. "Okay, I'm freaked out and getting more than a little sappy."

"I think I like you sappy," Alex whispered, smiling, and turning me around so that our faces were only a few inches away from each other. "Never got much of a chance to see it before, but I'd like to see more."

I grinned back at him. "Go ahead."

Alex blinked. "Go ahead and what?"

"Umm... weren't you thinking of kissing me?" At first I said it teasingly... and then I started to wonder if maybe he HADN'T been thinking along those lines at all. But after a moment Alex smiled and brought his lips in to meet with mine. It wasn't a fancy fireworks and hot passion kiss... probably both of us were too worried to get those kinds of results, but he kissed me strongly and sweetly, and the impact of it made my knees weak and forced me to lean into him even harder to avoid sending both of us sprawling on the rocks. For a moment I was very aware of my breasts pressing firmly up against his chest, through all of our relevant clothing, and that awakened a little bit of the hot passion. But now really wasn't the time, and... and we heard the approaching car at around the same moment, and reluctantly seperated. (Well, we kept holding hands, but that was it for a little bit.)

For a second I was afraid, worried that the special unit had shown up to hassle us again or worse, but it was Tess' dad, and when he got out of the car the first thing he did was run over to Tess and hug her. Then, keeping an arm around his daughter's shoulders, he went over to Max. "I... I know we've met before, but that was just once, and not under the best of circumstances. Hello, Max."

Max stepped up to him and waved a hand around just as an automatic gesture, though somehow I think Tony Harding might be better at finding and surreptitiously getting rid of bugs than all three of us with our alien powers put together. "Hi, Mister Harding. First question - do you think you can afford to help us more openly now?"

"Max!" Tess exclaimed. "I... I haven't even told him what's going on now... just that Mom isn't really here and that he should come up and meet us."

"But I suspect I may know more about what's going on than you'd think," Tony replied with a small smile. "The Unit hasn't been able to completely hide their activities from me. I don't know all the details, but a very highly placed undercover operative has been here most of the day... possibly posing as my wife, or at least telling you kids that that was her identity, am I right?" My mouth dropped open. "Also, confinement facilities have been arranged, rather hastily, for at least one prisoner, and a Special Unit psionic agent, maybe the same undercover operative, has visited the Sheriff's office and spent quite a while there. I think we have to consider that the local law enforcement hierarchy has been compromised, at least in part."

"Oh, so she got to Valenti?" Michael muttered. I realized that he was holding Maria pretty closely too, and I pulled Alex's arm back around my waist. "That's just great."

"Dad, it's Danielle Pierce herself!" Tess put in, her voice halfway to 'wail.'

"FUCKIN' SHIT!!" The vehement obscenity caught me slightly by surprise, though it was a perfectly good description of the situation. "And..." Tony's eyes swept over the gathering, as if it had suddenly occured to do an informal head count. "Who's... where's Liz... oh, no, don't tell me..."

"She's the prisoner," Maria nearly spat at him. "Pierce got to her, and fiddled with her brain enough that she went off like a lamb to be locked up."

"We need to get her back, as soon as possible," Max said. "Before Pierce can do anything more to her."

"Yeah, I won't argue with that," Tony replied. "But... well, that leaves open the question of just when 'as soon as possible' will be. Pierce will expect you to come charging foolishly in, and will have a counter-plan to foil such a rescue attempt -- and capture some of you at the same time. That, obviously, won't do Liz any good."

"We can wait a while, plan it out, try to do the unexpected," I said. "But eventually, I think we'll have to go where angels fear to tread to get Liz back." Tess looked at me a little oddly. "The place that fools rush in."

"Okay, first things first," Michael butted in, (not quite literally, but psychologically.) "Tony... you said that you knew they were holding somebody captive. Do you know WHERE??"

"Not... not precisely," he admitted. "I've seen surveillance coverage of the inside, and can identify an area from traffic patterns, but couldn't give you a specific street address... yet."

"So it's within the Roswell city limits?" Max pressed. "Not far from where we met Pierce, maybe... Chisum at cross South Garden??"

"Yeah... but east of there," Tony agreed. "If you've got a map in your car, that's probably easier than trying to describe it out loud. Ohh... and to get back to your question that I didn't answer, Max... yes, I think I can afford to help you openly without risking my wife's immediate safety now. It's hard to explain why, since the reasons are intensely psychological, and Danielle Pierce's psychology isn't by any means a very normal one."

"At the moment, I don't really much care about the reasons why," Max said. "I'll just get you that map, and we can start to make our plans."

"What... what about T-- T--- Topolsky, Max?" Maria managed to choke out.

Max considered that a moment, then whirled on Alex. "Call her. Get her here in Roswell! She's waited out there in safety long enough... and I think that she's not the one that Pierce wants anymore. We might be able to use her."

I thought about the way he'd phrased that, as he headed off to the Jeep. *Use* her. We'd done a good thing, helping Topolsky... and getting her to assist in rescuing Liz might cancel that out, or even more. But I wasn't sure that Max wasn't right, if he thought that risking her for Liz's sake was something we should be prepared to do.

----------

"Okay..." Michael groaned. "Let's try it this way. What are our assets?"

Max smiled, but a little grimly. "We have three alien teenagers with, erm, mediocre control over our powers. One mysterious orb that we don't know what to do with. An ex-green beret Special Ops soldier, his psionic daughter who can read alien thoughts and make water boil cold. A frightened turncoat FBI agent, the local electronics whiz and a spunky waitress. Oh, and about half a dozen weird healing stones, for whatever good they are."

"Right. And our liabilities??"

"The special unit has moved into Roswell in full force, with Pierce and three or four other highly skilled psionics... exact powers uncertain. Also a doctor and one or two other officers with specialized training, half a dozen tech boys, and twenty to thirty armed guards and operatives. Danielle has presumably recruited sheriff Valenti, which means that his deputies might also be put on surveillance duty on behalf of the Special Unit. Liz is probably being held in a building on South Elm street, between Chisum and Buena Vista... a place that started out as an office building but was refitted four years ago as a high-security tech lab for a military contractor."

"As much as I'd love to 'have fun storming the castle'," Maria grumbled, "we can't just charge into that place. Not without some hell of an ace up our sleeves."

"Then we'd better find ourselves an ace of trumps," Max said simply. "Probably two, just in case."

"What... what about that cave you were talking about?" Alex put in nervously. "Is... Isabel, do you really think that there might be something there that would tip the balance?"

"There has to be," I told him, squeezing his hand with desperation. This wasn't fair, and the planet just had to cut us some kind of break!!

"Nacero!" Tess exclaimed, and several of us turned to stare at her. It seemed quite likely that she was having one of her semi-psychic moments. "I... I can lead him there to meet with you, I think. He'll *come* there... he spends some time there pretty often -- did I tell you that earlier? And, if you meet him there, he... he might be more willing to listen, and to talk, than anywhere else. He wouldn't hurt you there. I -- I'm not sure why, but..."

"Well, what do you guys think?" Max asked tiredly, looking at Michael and me. "Up for another reunion with cousin shapeshifter?"

"Considering that the last time any of us saw him, he stuck a switchblade into my side... no, not really looking forward to it," I grumbled. "Even considering Tess' opinion about him attacking us there. But if you guys want to do it, then I'll come along."

Michael seemed unable to decide for a long moment. "I... I'm worried about it," he confessed. "But we need to do SOMETHING, and this seems like the best idea anyone else has had, so I'm in." He looked over at Max, putting the ball back in his court.

"Yeah... I agree. We'd better do it." He looked at Tess. "Do you want to actually come to the cave yourself?"

"No, I'd better not," Tess said, and didn't elaborate further. "I'll hang around in the area, to draw him in, but that's it. So just the three of you?"

"I... I think that Maria should come along," Michael blurted out. "That is... if you're up for it, baby. I... I know that you were a little weirded out when you ran into Nacero last time... well, when you realized that you'd run into him, when he'd impersonated me to steal the first Orb. But... well, first off, we might still need your help from that flash, to find the stupid cave. And also... I don't know why, but I feel like this is right even if it weren't for that."

Maria looked surprised... and a little touched that Michael had asked him along. "I... yeah, I'll come."

"What... what about Alex," I blurted out. "I..." I wasn't sure what to say. It didn't quite seem fair to Alex that Michael had asked Maria to come and I wasn't asking him... but I didn't feel whatever 'rightness' Michael felt about it. Going to meet Nacero was dangerous, and I wanted to keep Alex safe if I possibly could. "Do... do you, umm, mind??"

Alex smiled at me, and gave me a hug. "No, go ahead. Best of luck." Then he stepped back a bit and addressed the whole group. "I... I have some things I'd like to go over with Mister Harding, actually."

"Okay, be careful," I whispered at him. Leaving him alone with the mysterious government operative... was that really any safer than taking Alex along to meet a wild alien? But... well, Max seemed to trust Tony Harding, and he had probably proved that we could trust him a little.

"Alright," Max muttered. "Who goes in which car?"

----------

MICHAEL:

"Yeah, yeah, this is it," Isabel said as we came up to an ugly gash in the rocky-sandy ground. Maria nodded too, looking back slightly.

"Aww, this is all we rated?" I complained, trying to lighten the mood slightly. "Some kind of awkward desert chasm? We've seen dozens of them just getting here. I thought that we'd rate something a little bit cooler and more alien-ey. Maybe with a secret door that shifts aside when one of us presses a stone in just the right spot, that no human could set off."

I looked around and realized that Max and Isabel were giving me *those* looks again. "It makes a lot of sense, actually," Max muttered. "As you said, these little desert caves are everywhere. Thus, people almost never notice them."

"Some people make a hobby out of exploring them," Maria put in. "Wouldn't there have to be some kind of defense system to keep the wrong person from blundering in?"

"Prob-probably," I agreed. "Whoever goes in first should be very, VERY careful. Anybody else volunteering?" Max shrugged, Isabel didn't seem to react much -- and there was no way in hell that I'd let Maria break the trail for us. "Alright, well... get ready to try pulling me out or something in case everything goes VERY wrong." I walked around the fissure, decided on what looked like the most promising way of climbing down into it, and started on that route... which involved turning around so that I was backing down into the hole, my front pointed towards the rock wall so that I could stick my toes into the narrow places instead of trying to jam my heels in, and so that I could use my hands a bit more easily. That also meant that I could see three worried faces before I sank down far enough to break the line of sight between me and them.

It didn't take terribly long, though, before I was down at the base of the chasm, and blinking furiously, trying to adjust to the gritty dust that I'd churned up in the close air, and the much dimmer light that was available down there, in order to be able to look around and actually see anything. Hmm... okay, there was one rock wall down at the bottom that seemed unusually flat and amooth. I put my hand up against it, and after a moment, where it felt like the stone was examining me in some way that I couldn't hardly understand, my arm was suddenly stuck in the rock up past the wrist. It... it was the queerest sensation - there was a layer several inches thick that seemed like water... no, not like water, like some kind of pliable jelly... I could see and feel it moving out of the way of my arm whem I tried moving it around a bit. On the other side of that layer was definitely air. I called this discovery up to the others, trying not to get too loud or to use too many truly strange words just in case someone else was within earshot.

"Just a sec, I'm coming down before you do anything else," Max insisted. "When the first person goes through that wall, someone else should be here at the chasm base... just in case."

"Sure," I told him, as Max was already starting to scramble down. Oooch, more stone grit flying through the air - that's nasty stuff, and I blinked and blinked and blinked. "So... do you want to fight me for the chance to go in first? I was the one who volunteered to lead the way." I think Max was suprised at first, and then he saw that I had my hand stretched out in our old thumb-war challenge from when we were nine. Grinning, he took me up on the challenge, but I'm not sure he was trying very hard, and I kicked his butt.

"Okay... anything you need to do to get ready?" I asked him, after shaking my hand out to make sure that it wouldn't cramp up.

"Umm..." Max thought a moment, then shrugged and tried to assume a generic 'ready for anything' pose. "Go ahead."

I charged through the wall, opening my eyes as soon as I was through, and trying to catch a glimpse of any bit of the jelly-rock that I might have knocked loose out of the wall. But I couldn't see anything at first - it was completely dark. I raised my hand and was about to use my powers to make a light, when something else beat me to it. An unearthly yellow-green radiance bloomed high on the... the walls? Were they walls??

No... well, not quite walls in the way I'd usually think of it. The chamber, er, the space that I found myself in was obviously artificial, but it was constructed as a hollowed out spheroid... ehh, make that multiple spheroids, rather than multiple cuboids as a traditional cave passageway would be, with well defined walls, floor, and ceilings. Here, among all the smooth curves, it was hard to tell where the walls became the ceiling, except that it wasn't QUITE where the yellow green light was coming from. Still, between the odd color makeup of the lighting, the strangeness of the surroundings, and the subtly nervous feeling deep down in my chest, it was hard to make out anything more clearly about the cave, especially considering...

"Michael!" Max's voice was faint and muffled from behind me. "Are you... did you get in okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm in, and there doesn't seem to be anything immediately dange--RRAH!" I normally don't shout in shock like that I think, but my eyes had been continuing to sweep over the cave, evaluating anything I could see according to whether it was possibly a source of danger, and I'd just got to a... well, at first it looked like a giant insect, six and a half or seven feet tall, somewhat grasshopper-ey or mantislike in general shape. The bug hadn't moved since the lights came on, which was why it had taken so long for me to notice it, but once I'd recognized its general nature that didn't reassure me a bit. Couldn't bugs like that stay perfectly still for hours at a time, and then suddenly leap to bite somebody's head off??

I... I had to investigate it before letting anyone else come in... but I wasn't sure how to do that without possibly spooking it. Why the heck was there a bug here, anyway? That wasn't what our alien parents looked like when they weren't in human form, were they? Max had had that flash of the formless goopy aliens, which was disturbing enough, but being a bug was worse I thought. Maybe the goopy aliens kept bugs as pets... or the other way around, I suppose that was equally possible.

"Don't... don't come in yet, or let Isabel and Maria go down into the trench," I called to Max. "There's something I need to figure out in here first."

I REALLY didn't want to get any closer to the bug until I'd figured out more. So, very carefully, I extended my newly trained alien senses towards it... and got a number of surprises.

The thing wasn't a living bug... it was constructed out of metal plating and some kind of unearthly circuits and motors. A robot or droid. It wasn't even build that closely on a bug model, except for the general shape... its limbs ended in claws with double opposable digits, for instance. Oh, and whatever power source the bugbot had originally had, it was long discharged. The bot was completely dead -- *that* was the real reason that it hadn't moved. It couldn't.

Just about the time that I figured this out, there was another sound behind me, and I turned to see a feminine shape emerge from the rock jelly... Isabel. Not a drop of the jelly spilled - every bit that was pushed aside simply flowed back in after she had gone through. "Hey... I said for nobody else to come in yet," I complained.

"Well, you're not the boss of me," Isabel snapped back. "You were taking too log and hogging all the fu--- FRICKIN' HELL!!"

For a second I was worried that Isabel had spotted some *new* bit of scaryness, but after a second it was clear that she'd only seen the bug. "It's dead," I assured her, "and plus, it's a robot."

"Michael," Maria's voice came from outside the rock wall, "I can't get in by myself. However you and Isabel were able to walk straight through the wall, it's not working for me."

Okay, too much was going on... I still wasn't sure about having everyone else come through into the cave before I'd had a chance to thoroughly explore it... possibly with Isabel's help. But objecting at this point didn't seem likely to get me very far. Secondly, I'd suspected that Maria would have problems... remembering how the wall had seemed to 'sense' me. Maybe it had detected that I was an alien, and that she wasn't. Okay.

I stepped back next to the wall, and stuck my arm in as deep as it would go. "Hang on," I instructed, hoping this would work. After a second I felt Maria's hand grabbing hold of my own, and I started to slowly pull it through. For a little bit it worked... up until my fingers had left the rock, and Maria's hand was poking through a little past her wrist. "It's stuck!" she complained. Oh, great. I tried putting my other palm against the wall, to see if that would let her through anymore... but no go.

I could tell that Maria would be getting scared by this point, so I did something maybe a bit foolish. I stepped back through the jelly, wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her through staying as close to every part as I could, twisting around in the middle to make sure that she would come out of the wall first. Things could have gotten very tricky if something had gone wrong in the middle of that maneuver I guess, but it worked and we both got through okay. Max followed after a few seconds.

"Cheer, cheer, the gang's all here," I whispered under my breath, and waited to see if Maria would freak at the bug. She didn't, actually... she saw it, and peered at it for a moment. Then she might have seen some clue that it wasn't really a danger, shrugged, and started to look around elsewhere. It might have occured to her, actually, that I wouldn't have brought her inside while there was something dangerous within.

We were standing at the end of a fairly long egg-shaped cave, with what looked like two smaller oval chambers splitting off from it from a little further down, but on this side of the halfway point. On the other side, past the robot insect, I could see three great big blocky things, each considerably bigger than a stand-up fridge-freezer, and with round open hatches around waist high, or a little higher. "Those must be the incubation pods," Isabel breathed, stunned.

"Sure doesn't look like there's anything else here that could be," Max agreed. "And I don't think Nacero's here yet... unless he's disguised as something."

Ooh... I hadn't even thought of that possibility. Hrmm... could Nacero's shapeshifting powers work well enough to fool our molecular sensing trick? The robot bug, for instance... Could Nacero have turned himself into that? I thought it was unlikely, considering how much robotic detail I'd seen in that brief flash, but then I didn't know anything about the limits of his power really. Better to be on guard just in case.

"I think Tess was expecting it'd take longer than this for her 'call' to work," Maria pointed out. "We should keep an eye on the wall."

"Yeah," Max agreed. "How about Isabel and I stick near here, and the two of you can go exploring a little?" Maria looked nervously at me.

"Makes sense," I said softly, holding her tighter for a second and then letting go. If Nacero showed up in a bad mood, having two aliens to face him down at the get go might help, and for Maria to *not* be there from the start might help put him in not such a bad mood.

"Okay," Maria said, taking my hand, and stepping forward carefully, wanting to be sure of her footing with the curving floor. (Which wasn't quite a floor as in seperate from the walls... but we've been through all that already.) After moving only a few yards, something caught both Maria's attention and mine at once... a rectangular section of wall-curve that was... well, not quite flat, but noticeably flatter than the panels around it. More than the shape, though, what caught our attention was the colors... patterns and shifting swirls of light that seemed endlessly fascinating in their complexity. Staring at it for a second, I realized something a bit unusual was going on in my mind... and then I gasped out loud in utter shock!

TO BE CONTINUED...


	17. Part 5b

ALEX:

"Okay, so what was it you wanted to ask me?"

I looked at Tess' dad, who really did seem tough enough to be a secret agent, green beret and all that, and tried not to feel too imtimidated to speak. "I... I'm not sure exactly," I admitted. "Just... any information you have about the special unit that might be helpful... who they are, where they came from, that whole thing. We thought they were just a team of alien hunters in the FBI, until Tess started saying all this stuff about psionic powers."

Tony smiled at me kindly. We were sitting near a rock out in the desert... it was very warm, hot even, but somehow getting under cover felt like it would be easier for someone else to spy on us there, even though that might be a foolish fear. "Well, I don't know that much myself... Evie's the one you'd want to be talking to, I guess, but she isn't here obviously, so: as far as I know, the Special Unit is a wing of a very old secret society, known as Orbis Manuum."

"'The encircling hands,'" I muttered, and Tony looked up in surprise. "I took Intermediate latin last term." He nodded.

"So... I... I'm not sure if Orbis Manuum had the Special Unit, or any noticeable presence in the FBI, before 1947. Probably they hadn't ignored it entirely. I know that they had people in the Air Force, which is how they got involved in the Roswell incident. Evie's told me that they must have realized that whoever sent that ship down had paranormal powers far beyond their own... but I don't think that they ever captured a genuine alien. They've got bunches of salvage from the wreck, though. Trying to find the secret of alien powers is kind of like a holy grail for them, but that's not the only thing they're interested in. The special unit does just about anything they can with the FBI's powers to look out for OM interests."

"And OM is all psionics?" I asked. "Do they, like, run the whole planet behind the scenes or something?"

"I couldn't tell you of my own knowledge," Tony sighed. "I know that there's a lot of shit that goes on around the world that never hits the papers, and that would make some of the conspiracy theories out there look like kiddie stories. But... well, let's just say you don't want to go up against all of Orbis, no matter what they've got their fingers in. Trying to confuse or distract the Special Unit will be tough enough."

"Makes sense. So what strategies will Pierce tend to use?"

"As you've seen, she's fond of laying traps and misdirection... now that she's got Liz, she'll probably try to interrogate her and get information about Max and the others." Harding sighed. "She won't try a frontal move until she has no other choice... but you don't want to push her that far, because her assault will probably be nothing short of devastating."

"Alright. Now... I have a bit of an idea. It might be stupid, but... well, tell me if you think we can get this thing put together..."

----------

MARIA:

"Michael!!" Worried, I shook him slightly, and he suddenly snapped his head away from the shifting colors as if he were afraid of them. "What? What did you see??"

"Umm... I, I can't remember," he admitted worriedly. "What... what's happening? We're -- we're in the alien underground cave, right?"

"Yeah... are you sure you feel alright?" I took his hands in mine, and we sat down on the curving floor - I was careful to arrange things so that he was still facing away from the kaleidescope wall, or whatever it was, and his body blocked my view of it for the moment. "What's the last thing you remember before I was shaking you?"

He grinned that trademark Michael grin at me. "We were exploring Nacero's cave, or whatever we want to call it... down off the fissure in the desert floor. I looked into a rectangular section of wall with glowing colors... and I guess it confused me for a second. Didn't... didn't mean to freak you out or make you think that I had amnesia, anything like that."

I smiled with relief that he'd described the situation accurately, but still. "It wasn't just confusing. You gasped like... like you saw something in there, or realized something, or like you were being attacked. Something..." It took a few moments, or a moment and a half anyway, to come up with the right word. "Something that was *important*, for better or worse. You don't remember what it was??"

For a second Michael just looked blank, and then an odd expression started to come over his face. "It... it sounds a bit familiar, maybe. But as for the details... no, I think whatever it was was something that I couldn't grasp, though as you said, it IS important. And not, I think, dangerous. Getting jogged out of trying to comprehend it was probably what made me forget where I was for a second,"

I considered *that*. "Okay, then if it isn't dangerous... how about I try to look into it for a few seconds? Would that..." I wasn't sure how to finish the question, but it hardly needed to be said. If Michael had objections to the idea, he would be sure to express them once I'd formulated it as a plan.

But he didn't object, at least, not at first. "Umm... I'm not sure. It was a weird sensation... but if you're sure you're up to it, then we can go ahead. I'm going to turn you away from it after a few seconds, though."

"Umm... wait and give me a chance to turn away on my own first, kay?" I asked him. "If it doesn't affect us the same way, then there's no need to go to heroics I think."

"Alright," Michael agreed. I shuffled a little ways to the side, and looked into the colors. "One steamboat, two steamboat, three steamboat..."

"I'm turning away," I announced, and scrambled over so that I was sitting beside him, both of us facing away now. "I -- I didn't see anything at all unusual or experience anything weird as far as I can tell. It was a little annoying to stare directly at it somehow, like a TV where the picture is just a bit out of whack, but that effect didn't seem like it was going to make me go blind or anything."

"Hmm... maybe it's just because you're human and I'm not?" Michael suggested.

"Could be," I agreed, trying hard to supress the little disappointed reaction that I always get when something drives home the point of just how different we are. "Or maybe..."

Nobody got to find out just what I was about to suggest at that moment, though, because Max suddenly called out "Michael! We've got something!" We hurried to our feet and backdown to the mouth of the cafe, (Michael making sure to stay ahead of me,) just in time to see a man walk through the jelly wall. He was tall, taller than Max, maybe about the same height as Alex, (who's six foot one,) and looked... well, he looked a bit like 'Angel', from the tv show. Right down the the intimidating 'I'm a vampire don't mess with me' attitude that the actor presumably doesn't have in real life.

"Nacero, I presume?" Michael asked, calmly and with about as much confidence as he could muster. "Are you going to run away from us again, or attack somebody? Or will you talk to us like equals??"

The new guy's mouth opened and mouthed several things before an appreciable amount of sound came out. He didn't speak in regular sentences, of course... it HAD to be Nacero, and all the signs pointed to Nacero being a few pieces short of a chess set, in terms of actually being able to deal with the human world and talk with people. "Why... came... you here?" he muttered a little disjointedly, but clearly enough. "Ultimate objective - mission that those above sent you on? Or beat -- the bitch on her own game??" This was starting to get positively lucid, for Nacero.

"My only objective at the moment is helping Liz," Max told him, projecting with a bit more volume than necessary, which made his words ring and echo slightly off the cave walls. "If 'the bitch' is Danielle Pierce, then -- well, I don't intend to let her toy with my life or the lives of those that I care about, no. As far as whatever mission the other aliens wanted when they sent us to Earth, I don't care about that. Liz and my friends are the ones that matter."

Nacero looked at Max... and laughed, a laugh that started hearty and just slightly secretive, (as if Max was the butt of the joke in a way none of us understood,) and ended with overtones of whack-job craziness. "Already reacting properly with the prediction. They'll be pleased... if you get far enough to let them know."

"Enough of this enigmatic shit," Isabel declared, taking her turn. "Can... can you help us or not? Are you here in Roswell to do anything useful, or just to be yet another pain in my SIDE? Because I don't think Danielle Pierce would mind catching you and slicing you open, buddy."

I wanted to join in, but wasn't sure of the reaction it would elicit from Nacero if I spoke to him - he seemed definitely unbalanced, but was treating the aliens as if... as if they were nearly his own kind at least. "We really need a pointer at least, if not active assistance -- buddy," Michael muttered. Why hadn't... ohh!! Nacero meant 'visitor', or maybe 'outsider.' And he had to know that, from when River Dog had given him that name so long ago. From a human he probably didn't mind, but if other aliens called him 'outsider' to his face, the effect could be disastrous, in terms of their effort to win his trust if in no other way. "What do you say??"

Nacero was silent for a long time, turning away to stare at the cave wall next to the jelly door, then whirling back towards Michael. "Can't... can't cope against the clever little snakes," he muttered. "Got the power, yeah, but not the... I haven't adapted. It's another system, an ecology so vast that, couldn't hope to examine all of it. And - and so dangerous."

"WE've adapted!" Max said, looking like he had an imaginary lightbulb going on over his head. "That... that's the difference between us. We were raised human, so we understand about human ways, and can even guess how someone like Pierce will act and react, even though we didn't grow up in the same kind of circumstances as she did. But we don't know as much about our powers as you do... were you raised among aliens? With 'those above'??"

"Or maybe you grew up caught between the two worlds," Isabel breathed, seeing it too. "Or... or didn't even have a childhood - because aliens like them don't." She cocked her head. "But if they don't have childhoods, then how did we?"

"Um, because we were found by humans, who treated us like children because that's what we looked like?" Michael ventured.

"No, that doesn't quite fly, Michael," Max argued. "Unless we underestimated how much we were adapting to human expectations. We *acted* like kids, or we'd never have been accpted as children." He shook his head, focusing on Nacero again. "As fascinating as this speculation is, we're straying wide of the point. We can work on the strategy, if that's your weak point man, and let you be the heavy duty firepower. Or just teach us how to use our own firepower. Wanna help us kick the bitch, and get my friend back?"

"I... I can't tell it to you," Nacero mumbled, shaking his head slightly and not meeting Max's eyes. "Too big a gulf to cross yet. Even a running leap wouldn't do it - go splat at the bottom, squish." Eww, that's an image I didn't need to have in my mind. Was he talking about the cultural or linguistic gulf between us?? "Don't need me, though. It's in here, all that you need. Just see the light."

"You mean the wall with the colored lights?" I blurted out before I thought... dammit. But Nacero didn't even seem to hear or pay attention. My friends were quiet for a few seconds, and then Michael repeated the question, slower and in a little more detail, including pointing back up the cave to where the wall had been. "Is that there to teach us how to use our powers?"

We all stared at the enigmatic shapeshifter for a long moment, wondering what his reply would be, or if he'd make one. Then, finally... "The setting sun teach Van Gogh about beauty?" Wow... that was almost a human sentiment, and kinda Zen to boot. "Couldn't. Can't teach someone if you don't even know that they're there."

"Okay, so 'teach' is the wrong term," Max said, his face glowing with hope. "But it's a learning aid?" The shifter didn't reply, aside from a nodlike jerk of his head that mightn't have signified anything at all, but Max seemed satisfied with his answer. Nacero didn't seem to like replying to yes-or-no-am-I-right questions... maybe he realized that it would take away from his air of mystery to answer them straight out, and he was probably saving cryptic replies for more interesting questions.

"Enough about teaching, then?" Isabel asked in a loud voice. "Will you help us directly? Will you come into battle with the Special Unit by our side?"

Nacero's mood turned on a dime and he practically snarled at her. "If I go into battle, you might regret it, Usurper!! Have no love for the hunters, but they aren't the ones who STOLE MY RIGHTS!"

"We... we don't know what you think we stole from you," Max blurted out desperately. "We'd give it back it we can."

That dark, intense gaze finally settled on Max's own. "It's not that easy." And all of a sudden, Nacero charged back through the jelly wall. "Do we go after him??" Michael yelled.

"Umm... no," Isabel grumped. "He might find a weapon and attack us if we try. Let him cool off for now - we've learned a lot this time." She sighed. "I'm sorry I pushed him too far - but things seemed to be going... well, good except for the communication issues. He seemed like he honestly wanted to help us."

"Maybe Tess will have additional insights when we see her next," I said. "Seems to me like there's something almost human about the way he loves you guys and hates you at the same time."

Michael's eyes went wide. "Well, that's one theory I guess - or maybe half of one."

"Back to the wall of color," Max suggested. "Does what he said fit in with what you experienced? I didn't really hear all of what you guys said after you looked into it."

"Hmm." Michael mulled that over. "Maybe, yeah. If it's a kind of meditation aid or something like that - then maybe I got just a trace of some insight that I couldn't even hold onto well enough to remember that I touched it." He sighed. "Should I look into it again, for longer this time?"

"Be really careful, Michael," Isabel opined. "Remember, he has conflicted feelings towards us at least. Maybe looking into there is dangerous, and he was trying to trick you into doing it again."

"Ermm," Max muttered, and I looked over at him - we all did. Wasn't hard to see that Liz's plight was weighing heavier and heavier on his mind. If looking into the color wall stood a good chance of helping him learn what he needed, to save her - then he was probably going to look inside. But I think he also didn't want to just brush off Isabel's warning. So...

"How about this," I volunteered. "We finish searching the rest of this chamber first. If we haven't found anything better, or any good reason not to, then one of you looks into the wall - and maybe if you can work out a way that someone else can try to protect that person from any booby trap effect, then you do that too."

"Sounds good to me," Michael said, reaching out to hold my hand. "Why don't we start going further back - we know where the color wall is and I can avoid looking at in as I pass. Max, Isabel, you guys stick together and try the side passages?"

Max nodded, and after a second so did Izzy. And we started to look through the rest of the alien hideout, as quickly as we could while still being careful.

------------

After passing the wall of colors, Michael strode confidently forward towards the back of the main chamber. "You wanna take a closer look at those pod dealies??" I asked him.

"Sure, why not?? Seems weird to think that we came from there." He thought about it. "Do you suppose we were CONCEIVED in those things... or in some kind of lab like test tube babies maybe, and then grown in the washing machines as if we were something out of a science fiction movie."

"I hate to break it to you," I explained, "but as aliens living undetected amidst humans, you already qualify for science fiction in just about any medium."

"Hmm... okay, I have to admit you have a point," Michael admitted. "But somehow alien isn't on the same level of weirdness as 'genetically engineered alien born out of a strange machine.'" He considered that a moment. "Maybe it's just that I've had more time to get used to the alien thing."

By this time we were at the strange machines, standing in front of the left-most to be exact. The three of them were arranged in, well, more like an arc than a line... about forty degrees of angle seperating the way that they were each facing. Each were well over seven feet high, and maybe... erm, a few inches over four feet deep, and at least four and a half feet wide. It was hard to see much detail in that strange light, but there didn't seem to be any designs or controls or power feeds anywhere around the blocks - just one hole in each. Michael reached forward and felt the edge of it. "Ewww, is it gucky??" I asked.

"Nah - give it a try yourself," he urged me. Nervously I stretched my own arm out and ran my fingers up to the cavity. The front face of the machine was perfectly smooth and somehow felt like it might have been polished only a few minutes before... like when my Mom took me to Dallas when I was a little girl and we rode the monorail there. Inside the hole... no, it definitely wasn't gucky or sticky... at least, not the way I'd expected it to be sticky, like ooze or anything. There was... it felt like there was some kind of trace powder inside, some of which clung to my fingertips, and since I didn't know what it was I snatched my hand back and brushed it away.

After examining the three big boxes a little further and not finding anything particularly interesting in any of them, we started to move back along the wall. After maybe ten paces Michael nearly bumped his knees into a kind of a low shelf, sticking out of the wall. He reached out and picked something up from the shelf. "What... what is it?" I asked him, feeling a little jumpy.

"Umm... maybe a kind of alien book??" He asked. The thing was probably six inches square and maybe an inch and a half thick, and when I reached out to touch it the front seemed papery, a kind of rough-grained paper, but definitely paper. Michael did something, and unfolded it out into two square halves.

"Okay, a book sounds like a good guess," I agreed. "Can you read anything written on it?"

"Ermm... not in this light," he said. "Can just about make out something that's either a drawing, or... well, it's definitely not English."

We examined a few other things, not able to make much out of most of them, and finally got back to Max and Isabel. Michael told them about the incubation machines, and showed them the book, which turned out to fold out the other way too - it was one long strip of paper folded up almost like an accordian, and writing on both sides too. "Did you guys find anything of note?"

"Well, this," Isabel said, holding something out. It was a little tapered tube of metal, closed at one end, just about long enough to fit on a finger - in fact, it fit my middle finger or Isabel's perfectly, while for the guys the middle finger was too long and too big around, but they could put it on their index fingers or ring fingers nicely. Nobody had any clue what it did other than fit on a finger - if anything.

"Okay, well, we tried," Max said. "I'm gonna try looking into the freaky color wall. Isabel - I assume you want to try keeping a watch over me?"

"You bet," she insisted. "Umm, Maria, do you want to guide me towards the pane without letting me look at it?" I sighed and smiled at the same time - it seemed just a bit ridiculous how paranoid she was being about this thing, but then again it never really hurts to be sure I suppose. I held Isabel's hands and walked her backwards through the cave, so that she ended up about a yard before the color wall and a little bit to the side of it, angled so that her gaze crossed its path, so to speak, at maybe a thirty degree angle. Then Max walked up towards us, keeping his own attention focused on the pod machines until he was only about five feet away from Isabel. "Closer," she insisted, and Max stepped closer. "Okay, I think you're good. I've got a vague sensation of your brain operations and your mind now, Max. Hopefully, it's detailed enough that I'll be able to sense something going wrong, but not a deep enough rapport that anything that effects you will easily spread to me." She took a deep breath. "You can look now."

Max turned to stare into the shifting colors, and he immediately seemed to zone out just like Michael had. He didn't gasp... he got a very pensive look on his face, like Liz when she's trying to figure out something tough about math or physics that I'd never be able to get no matter how many times she explains it to me. (The thought of Liz made my stomach clench - we HAD to get her out, and soon!!) His expression didn't change much over a minute or so, but there seemed to be slight nuances... like he was struggling with something that was puzzling and wonderful at the same time.

Isabel, meanwhile, was getting more and more antsy. "Is... is something wrong?"

"How am I supposed to know??" she wailed, frustration simply dripping out of his voice. "There's... there's nothing going on that I can pin down as specifically harmful, but a very subtle and pervasive change is beginning to spread through his subconscious mind. If there's something there that makes him unfriendly to us, that makes him not the Max that I know and love..."

"Okay, let's just give him a moment longer, okay??" I suggested. "Maybe it just means that he's starting to learn what you guys need to know, right??" Isabel nodded, but she looked thoroughly miserable at the idea. "Max, max, can you hear me?"

"Maria?" Max whispered softly. "Maria, don't bug me, this is important."

Well hrmphh. Obviously he wasn't completely tranced out, and could pay attention when he had to - maybe just when somebody said his name. But that kind of reaction didn't seem especially Max-like. I waited for longer, as Isabel jittered more and more in place, and even Michael started to fidget. Finally, about thirty seconds after he'd said to not bug him, I couldn't take it any more, and reached out to shake him again. "Sorry, Max, but -- umm, better safe than sorry, right?"

Max looked at me and smiled just a bit. "Ehh... I'd have rather had a bit more time in there, but I understand you being worried about safety." He stepped casually away from the color pane, towards Michael, and Isabel followed him, keeping her eyes firmly trained on her brother. "I feel like I was on the edge of learning what I needed... but maybe that's something that we shouldn't put too much trust in. Alex and the others will be worried, with us gone this long."

"Yeah," Michael put in. "If Tess called Nacero here, then maybe she was able to tell that he split, too. Let's head out." Isabel nodded, and we all hurried back to the wall of jelly-stone. (Hmm... like Yogi Bear's jellystone park?) Max and Isabel went through first, and Michael shot me a look. I smiled and stood straight in the middle of the passageway, waiting for him to wrap his arms around me and carry me through again, since that seemed like the best way of getting a human being through. He did, embracing me from behind and pushing through. Soon all four of us were out in the desert sunlight and walking back to where Max had parked the Jeep.

"Well," Isabel said a bit sourly, "the chamber was 'interesting,' but we don't really care about interesting. We don't have Nacero working with us, and we don't have any new weapons or new insights about our powers. We don't really have anything much to show for the time we've spent in there but a weird alien book, that we can't read. And Liz is still waiting to get rescued."

Max groaned... obviously he hadn't really needed that reminder.

-----------

LIZ:

Just keeping somebody waiting in a little room can be a form of torture. Maybe that's the worst thing about going to prison, I don't know. Sure, there are meals and exercise in the yard and whatever to break up the days, but basically you're waiting in a little room until however many months and years are up and you're eligible for parole, right??

I'm pretty sure that the Special Unit doesn't think much of parole. They don't seem to have a very favorable policy on exercise or frequent meals for their prisoners either.

So I was trying to kill time by staring at the wall and daydreaming... picturing various ways that my friends could rescue me, then deciding that those were too passive. I tried imagining daring and completely impractical escape plans, and they were fun for a while, but then I decided that I wanted my imagination to completely fly free of this place, and thought of days spent with Max and the others on a florida beach, trips up into the mountains for skiing and hot chocolate, camping out at the state park near Fort Sumner. I was in the middle of a particularly fun fantasy with Max kissing me at the top of the Sears tower when the door opened once again. I looked up, and my blood went cold.

Evelyn Hardi-- no, NOT-Evelyn-Harding was standing confidently in the doorway to my cell, smiling slightly. Okay, well, might as well try to be bold with my words if nothing else. "Hi there. Mind if you tell me who you really are now, since I'm pretty damn sure that you're not really Tess' Mom?"

She smiled slightly. "Oh, my. I suppose I managed to forget that you couldn't know yet -- because your friends found out, I mean. And - well, so much else has been happening that... I pride myself on being a 'little details' person, but I guess none of us are completely beyond losing track. Danielle Pierce." Her voice was still friendly, and she almost stuck out her hand for me to shake before visibly 'realizing' that it would be difficult or impossible for me, manacled as I was.

"Pierce... Daniel Pierce's daughter? Hmm, I wouldn't have thought he would be young enough to have a child your age, but... it's past co-incidence that he would have a wife with so similar a name."

Danielle cocked her head. "No, no, I'm not buying that routine, Miss Parker - try again. Tess would *certainly* have told you the truth by now - that Special Agent Daniel Pierce is a man who does not exist. An actor, occasionally, plays the role when I require him to. But the only Pierce that you need to worry about is standing right in front of you."

I remembered... remembered my confusion when Tess had told me about that, told me that Pierce had kept up the charade not because of male chauvinism, but simply because presenting a fake target, any kind of fake identity, would draw attacks away from her personally. Somehow that was starting to make a little bit more sense than it had at the time. "Alright, what happens now - do you torture me? Try to get information about my friends??"

"Well, no, I don't believe in torture," Pierce said softly. "Physical pain and mistreatment can strengthen the mind, galvanize the will, and make even fairly honest people into the most egregious kind of liars. But... well, I suppose you could call this an interrogation." She smiled, a smile I found profoundly unpleasant somehow. Was it just because the smile indicated that she felt completely in control of the situation? Or was there something worse?? "I have my own interrogation methods - not exactly unique, but I doubt you'd have heard of their like before."

She called guards in and had my manacles taken off - I tried to struggle a little at that point, but there was no use, the guards had me more tightly in their grip than the stupid cord had been. Soon a chair had been brought into the cell, and I was strapped and restrained into the chair, those little things put on my eyelids so that I couldn't close them or even blink. I could speak if I wanted to, but not move an inch of my body otherwise. About eight or nine feet away from my chair was the wall, a section of the wall that I'd never particularly noticed before, possibly because it was far away from my bed and it had been dimly lit until now. A special overhead lamp shone on the institutional paint job now, and I could see that in the middle of the horribly bland yellow-cream color, right at eye level, were a row of four blue circles.

"How many circles do you see on the wall?" Danielle asked conversationally.

"Four circles," I muttered shortly, a nervous feeling rising in my stomach.

"Really, four circles, not five?? I could have sworn someone told me that five blue circles were painted there." She didn't turn around to look at them herself. "You wouldn't be playing a little joke on me, would you, Liz??"

So this was it. She wasn't going to ask me any really important questions to start with - just this test routine, and maybe others like that. Once I was broken enough that I really did see five circles on the wall, just because she wanted me to, then she could ask me anything else and I'd probably tell her what she wanted to know. I thought briefly about trying to fake it, just saying 'sorry my mistake there are five' right now to throw her off track, but it didn't seem like too great a gambit - obvious enough that she'd have a counter-strategy for that, and once I started telling her what she wanted to hear, that might be a very slippery slope easy to slide down. So I played it straight. "Nope, four circles. Look for yourself."

Danielle bent down and brushed her hand across my hair... I think she'd have wanted to tuck it behind my ear, but with the head restraints that would have been very awkward. "Are you *sure* Miss Parker??"

And a wave of something made my vision swim and my thoughts explode in confusion. I held onto one thing alone - I couldn't let her win. Pierce was trying to break through my mental defences and own me. I could NOT let that happen.

-----------

MAX:

"Hey, what's the word?" I asked as we pulled up near the other cars sitting about fifty feet away from route 285 north.

"Not too much," Tony Harding replied. "Waiting for you mostly. Young Mister Whitman has a few ideas for diversions, but nothing that'll really help you go up against Pierce and live to tell about it. And you?"

"Nacero has big issues," Isabel replied, hurrying forward to grab onto Alex's hand like she was drowning and he was reaching out to her from the deck of a boat. (Maybe she was, in a way.) "There's a freaky kaleidescope thing that might help us get power-ups, but... well, it's really complicated. Nothing much else to report."

"What... what did he tell you guys?" Tess asked. "Nacero I mean. I - I was able to lead him there, but once he got inside wherever that was, he... it's like he was able to completely close his mind off from me. And I wasn't getting much from the rest of you either."

That disturbed me - it always does actually, when Tess refers to being able to sense our thoughts. "Umm... this and that." Most of what we'd talked about wasn't really Tess' business - she might be helping out as much as she could, but that still didn't make her one of the gang. "Priorities. Strategy and firepower. This mysterious whatever that he's convinced the three of us stole from him. Which, apparently, we couldn't give back even if we wanted to."

"Alright," Alex said. Possibly he caught my evasive tone and was trying to divert Tess from the subject. "Well, Topolsky is on her way. We, umm, we didn't leave her wheels way out at the safehouse - so she used her FBI tricks and 'acquired' some."

"Ohh." I hadn't thought about that aspect. But maybe it was for the best this way - time was short and we couldn't wait for someone to drive out to the motel in the middle of the desert. We could hardly wait for Topolsky to drive *here.* "What's her ETA?"

"Little over half an hour," Alex replied. "Any idea what you want her to do, once she gets here??"

"She'll be perfect for creating a diversion," Michael said.

"Now wait," Maria protested. "I... I'm not Kathleen Topolsky's biggest fan, but we kinduv agreed to do what we could to protect her. Giving her up in exchange for a chance to get Liz back doesn't seem at all fair."

"I don't expect to have to give her up," I said evenly. "Pierce won't risk anything just to get her back, Especially if one or more of *us* happen to be nearby when she makes her move." I thought about that. "Maybe Valenti is the key. She said that they talked, in the fall when she was working as the guidance counselor, and that she came to him again before Isabel, umm, 'made sure' of her two weeks ago." No point in talking too much about dreamwalking in front of Tess and Tony, even if they knew that it was theoretically possible.

"Right, and afterwards, when we were trying to figure out how to spring Miss T, Valenti came to the crashdown and asked about her," Maria chimed in. "Said that they'd been spotted together at Senor Chao's. He was interested in her - isn't a stretch to suppose that he still would be."

"So... so she walks straight into the Sheriff's station?" Alex asked.

Several of us exchanged glances. "Well, it has the advantage of being bold and unexpected," Michael decided.

"And what then?" Tess asked.

"Then we take advantage of any opportunities that come up, if any," Isabel said.

"What... like trying to break Liz out then?" Tony replied. "Pierce won't fall for that easily. She'll guess that you're trying to make a move for Liz as soon as Kathleen appears on the scene, as it were. She'll double security at her base camp."

"Really?" I asked, turning to look at Tony. "Then... I want to watch that. Might... might just tell me something I need to know."

"Yeah," Michael chimed in. "And if they're concentrating on security, then they're not trying an offensive move on us. Let's do it." He stepped a bit closer to me. "You want Izzy and me keeping an eye on Topolsky?"

"Yeah, that sounds good man," I said. "Tony, you're with me on observation lookout, if that's alright."

"Umm,,, okay, but I still don't see what this is going to accomplish."

"Neither do I, yet," I admitted. "But let's just try it and see."

---------

We talked about other kinds of plans and preparations while waiting for Kathleen to arrive, then ran out of plans and just talked about distant, happy times to make ourselves feel better. Finally an olive green two-door car pulled in off the highway and a familiar blonde woman got out to meet us. "Max, I'm so sorry about Liz. What can I do?"

Well... that was likely to be the best opening that I'd get. "This might sound strange, but I'll do my best to keep you safe. The plan, for now -- is for you to go to the sheriff's station, if possible get in to talk with Valenti on your own, and... well, do whatever you can to distract him or try and complicate the situation, without endangering yourself."

"Like the proverbial lamb to the slaughter?" Topolsky said, quirking up one eyebrow and smiling in a way that hopefully said she didn't really believe the worst of my motives.

"More... like the red herring, I'm afraid," I replied. Topolsky considered this, and nodded. Everybody else seemed to be remaining quiet, letting me handle the situation by myself.

"And while I'll be doing the herring thing, rubbing myself all over the trail I suppose because I gather that's what herrings do, what will YOU be up to?" she asked. "Will you tell me that much?" Somehow something in her voice implied that she wouldn't be too surprised (or too upset, maybe,) if I chose to reserve that part.

"Umm... mostly just surveillance, I'm afraid. A very good source - " pause, and I didn't look or gesture with my head towards Tony Harding, but somehow I thought Kathleen would be both clever enough to work out who of the crowd nearby was new, and discrete enough not to freak out about us associating with the people she'd seen on the Special Unit base, "- has informed me that if you show up so suddenly, Pierce will consolidate his defences, preparing for us to mount a rescue mission and break Liz out of captivity. As much as I'd like to do that right now, I need to know as much as possible about those defences first, so this time I'm just going to watch as they get consolidated."

"Not a bad strategy, if somewhat cautious," Kath agreed. "How much passive maneuvering do you have the patience for, with Liz in Pierce's hands??"

"Maybe not enough," I admitted. "But charging blindly into a trap - or just plan into superior numbers and forces - isn't going to help Liz any either."

"She might be let go entirely if Pierce catches the rest of you," Topolsky said, softly, and I looked up at her in shock. "I'm sorry - that was too sharp a needle for the situation, I suppose. But it's true."

"That still wouldn't really be much better for Liz," Maria said softly. "To be free, and know that some of the people she loves most are enjoying Pierce's tender mercies, with no hope of rescue... No, not ever."

"Yeah," Michael said. "It's not gonna happen. And speaking of not having much patience, let's go put the plan into action." He turned to Alex and Maria. "Are you guys okay for hanging out with Tess while we do this?"

"Yes," Maria said quickly. "Let's all go chill at my house. Tess - I know that this must be the tenth or twelfth time one of us has said this, but I have some more things that I'd like to ask you about."

"My fault for being so incredibly intriguing, I suppose," Tess said, though her voice was less playful than her words. "Okay, let's go."

"Actually... can I go with you, Max?" Alex asked. "I... I don't know if I'll be able to help, but..."

"Sure," I said quickly. "Another pair of eyes sounds good."

"Might as well synchronize our watches," Kathleen said. "Probably won't matter so much, but... heck, it's kind of a tradition for me before a caper like this."

"Allow me," Isabel said, and waved her hand. I looked down at my digital watch just in time to see it jump about thirty seconds ahead. Topolsky gasped slightly, and I guessed that her own, more old-fashioned, wristwatch had also been adjusted.

We split up into different cars and drove back into town.

----------

"Okay, if she stuck to her timetable, then Kathleen should be walking through the front door of the station just about now," I muttered, looking at my watch, and then back through Tony's binoculars. The three of us were set up on a rooftop across the street and several numbers down from 'Pierce HQ' - far enough that we might not be easily noticed, yet in a good position to get a decent view, especially with binos like these. "Any idea how soon we'll see a reaction?"

"Hmmm." Tony considered the question. "As soon as any of the deputies recognize Kathleen, he'll use a closed-network digital comm to contact someone over here," he said slowly. "It'll take a little while to sort out the context of the situation, and longer to issue orders and follow them. Let's see... fifteen, fourteen..." He kept counting down slowly, and broke off at 'two' when the nearest door opened an two more sentries came out to join the one who had been there already."

"Okay, more men on all the exits," Alex replied softly. "Is that going to be it?"

"I suspect not," I muttered, feeling an odd pricking sensation running through the muscles of my neck and at the base of my skull. After maybe twenty seconds, the door opened again - one of the guards swung his weapon to cover the newcomer, but relented after checking the ID badge against her face. (Had he recognized her too, or would we be able to get past the guards by obtaining fake badges to match our faces? Surely it couldn't be that simple.)

"Those are some big-ass automatic rifles the guards are carrying," Alex whispered. "And they're within sight of the street - a fairly ordinary Roswell residential neighborhood. Isn't somebody going to notice?"

"Too bad there don't seem to be any ordinary residents around," Tony drawled. I shushed them slightly, my attention still on the newcomer, trying to figure out why she was just standing there with her eyes closed.

PSIONIC POWER! It burst on my mind, not just as an idea or a possibility, but cold hard certainty. The woman was a psychic, some kind of perceptive, and she was looking for - well, looking for me, was what it came down to. Any aliens in the vicinity, anybody else who might be acting suspiciously or hanging around to help us out.

It was like an incredible quantum leap had taken away my old view of how the world around me worked, and left something dizzying, scary - something that might be big enough to eat up my sanity if I let it. But I held tightly to one single thread of will - *Liz.* She had to be saved from Pierce's tender mercies, and if this strange new world had even a possibility of giving me the tools that I needed to have to do that, then I would charge into it eagerly. Somehow, that resolve kept me centered enough to not lose myself.

Awareness. Awareness of the space around me, the space between the building and this rooftop, between the psychic and my own body, that I was suddenly completely familiar with in a way that was much more immediate than just a view over a rooftop, diagonally across a street, to a brick wall with a few trees growing up against it, a door with a ten-inch stoop and brassy D-shaped door handles. I probably couldn't even have memorized all of that much to tell you by sight alone, and the other normal human senses - hearing, smell, touch, would have been even less use in mapping the field of battle. Yes, it was a battle of minds that was about to take place, though not much like the battles of paranormal powers that I would have imagined even a day ago.

I spoke of awareness about a paragraph ago, right? That was where it started - alien senses telling me about every cubic centimeter of the space around me - what, if anything was filling it, how fluids in its vicinity were moving, exactly how the radiance of the sunlight was shining through that space - though the sunlight was shining in much the same way every place it WAS shining, of course. In some locations it had been interrupted, obviously. This - this was an aspect of the power that we'd touched on before, when checking out our friends for government transmitters or preparing to use molecular transmutation powers - but I had never realized that it could go so far beyond. I wondered how far the psionics of the special unit could...

Oh, right, the psionic lady. She - she wasn't as aware of the surroundings as I was, I could tell that somehow. Maybe she had the same kind of detailed awareness as I had for around thirty feet around her, but no further. Otherwise she wouldn't have spent so much energy constructing a kind of... a probe ray, I guess it was, a giant cone-shaped construct that would send out psionic energy, and tell her what it hit by the reflections, kind of like a paranormal radar dish.

This seemed almost too easy. I waited and was incredibly ready by the time the cone was sweeping toward us. Alex and Tony were remaining perfectly silent, which helped. I had observed the way the 'radar' portion of the woman's psionic powers worked, and was able to divert almost all of the radar echoes bouncing off of us before they got back to her. I was worried that she'd get suspcicious, that too little was bouncing off the rooftop itself, but she swept back and started over in the other direction, down the street in the other direction. Straining my new power awareness, I constructed insubstantial 'radar dummies' and left them there for her to sense - mockups of myself, Isabel, Michael, Tess - and Danielle Pierce, just for the heck of it, all leaking out traces of energy. She found them, sure enough, and brought up a radio to her mouth, talking into it quickly. Soon she rushed off, taking two of the guards from that door, and meeting up with other people down the street, heading off to investigate. I smiled at the lone sentry left behind, wondering how hard it would be to incapacitate him with alien powers, and then urged Alex and Tony back well away from the edge of the roof.

"I... I learned what I needed to know for now," I told them smiling. "Know what I need to know for now, but time is still going to be short."

"What... what do you mean, Max?" Alex asked as we hurried in through the roof access and started making our way down a staircase. I was still maintaining awareness of the surroundings, just in case. "What happens next?"

"Michael, Isabel, and I go back into the cave," I said. "We all have to look into that color wall again. And we'll need the Orb too, the one that Topolsky gave us." Deep breath. "And then we walk straight through the front door of Pierce's stronghold."

"WHAT?" Tony burst out, a second before Alex could. "Max, are you crazy?"

"Umm... I might be," I admitted. "Wouldn't rule out that possibility entirely. But that won't stop me from getting Liz back!"

TO BE CONTINUED...


	18. Part 5c

Isabel:

"Max, slow down," I said. "You're not making much sense."

"He's kinda been like that ever since it started," Alex whispered, a worried look on his face, as he stepped close and we each looped an arm around each other. "Rambling about how the colors are the key to getting Liz back and none of them will be able to stop you once you all pick up the key."

"Oh, boy," I groaned. Between the alien whatever in the cave and the strain of Liz's continued hostage status, had my dear brother started to break down? Then another question occured to me. "Since WHAT happened, exactly??"

"I'm not sure of that exactly," Tony said. "There was activity inside the building - a speial agent, psionic, came out to check for anything suspicious. And Max was... was somehow able to divert her and have her lead the guards off in entirely the wrong direction. Any more than that... is probably something that only Max experienced. Inside his mind."

"MAX!!" Michael shouted, grabbing Max's shoulders with both his hands and looking deep into his eyes. "We want to help you save Liz, of course we do." He was speaking very slowly and clearly, as if Max were a... well, I'm not going to bother making a simile, so fill in with one of your own. "But first... you're going to have to explain your plan... enough to convince us that it's sane."

That seemed to get through to Max. "R-right. Sorry, man, I didn't mean to go off into whatever, I'm just trying to sort out a lot of hectic stuff, and it's tempting to get overexcited about..." He shook his head quickly again, just a bit. "Um, maybe we'd better get somewhere a bit more private."

He had a point there, I realized. All six of us were just standing around on the sidewalk near where our cars had met, nearly halfway between Pierce's building and the sheriff's station. "Umm, okay. Where?" I asked.

"How about you kids go to one of your parent's houses," Tony suggested. "It'll probably be reassuring - they'll be worried about you."

"Parents would try to make us go to bed," Max said, a little ominously. "We don't have time for that." Again, he had some of the truth on his side... it was getting pretty late. I was having a hard time believing that so much had happened in, what, about three and a half hours since we discovered that Liz was taken.

"Then we can all go back to my place," Tony suggested.

"What about Tess and Maria?" Michael asked. They weren't here with the rest of us... Maria had driven Tess to her place to ask her a few more questions. Hmm... how was Maria's mom reacting to the lateness of the hour? Were the two of them even safe there? Would Maria be able to sneak out again?

"Call her," Max suggested to me, without suggesting anything that I should say or ask.

"What happened with you guys, anyway?" Alex asked. "Kathleen??"

I pulled out my cell phone, doing my best to tune out the rest of the conversation, but Topolsky had already briefed Michael and me on her surprise visit to the Sheriff's station. She'd been waiting a while, and then finally spoke to Jim Valenti 'as confusingly as she could' for a minute and a half, then beat it out of the building, hoping that no-one would try to stop her. The young eager deputy, Hanson, had blocked her way for a second, but Jim had told him to step a--

"Hello? Who is it?"

I chuckled softly. "Maria, it's Isabel. Umm... how's your mom doing?"

That particular question obviously shocked her. "Good I hope - she's out of town this weekend."

I let out a breath of relief. "So it's just you and Tess there?" That could make things easier. I covered the mouthpiece of my phone and turned to Mister Harding. "Excuse me, but wasn't your house lousy with Special Unit bugs?"

Tony grinned a little sadly. "It was... but I fried most of them - about when I thought Evelyn was back in town. Still, might have missed a few key indicators. I thought you kids could take care of them."

"Maybe... but I'd feel better going back to Maria's," I said. "No parents to worry about there."

"Alright," Kathleen said. "Lead the way."

----------

"To get back to the main point," Max said in the very moment that he stepped into the DeLuca's front hall, "as soon as that special unit lady started using her powers in front of me, (a long way in front, admitted,) a bunch of stuff started to fall into place. About energy, and matter, and something deeper that ties them both together. About a kind of perception that has nothing to do with eyes or ears... something that we've been tapping into the surface of every time we look for bugs. It's the fundamental nature of the power that the Special Unit is trying to hoard for itself over this whole planet, and that whoever sent us to Earth was able to use better than they can. Those abilities are ours to claim... and the color wall in the cave is the first step. Like Nasedo said, it doesn't directly teach us, but we can learn from it - like an artist learns about beauty from watching a sunrise or a sunset. Maybe it's designed to help our sense of human limitations fade away or something like that."

We all sat down, trying to digest that much. I sighed softly, and Max turned to me. "I know that you're frightened, but... it didn't hurt Michael. It hasn't hurt me - quite the opposite, though I know I'm acting a bit erratically and that might bother you. Liz is counting on us." I looked to Michael, and then at the others. Alex was looking very uncomfortable about something.

"Back on the roof, Max," he blurted out, "you said something about maybe being crazy." I blinked at that.

"I'm pretty sure now that I'm not crazy, yet," Max started off, and Michael interrupted him.

"You can probably imagine how much of a comfort that's *not.*"

"Well..." Max sighed. "The power is dangerous, yes, and part of the danger is mental. Maybe that's part of what drove Nacero crazy - he had too much contact with the power, before he could deal with it." He breathed deeply. "The thing is, compared to the Special unit, who has a pretty good grasp of the power already, and superior numbers, financial backing, weaponry etcetera, I think madness is the lesser risk. We can navigate around the danger."

"That's a heck of a thing to trust you on, Max," Maria said, sighing. "Okay, let's break it down. You say that all three of you need to go back to the cave and get this dangerous power. How long will that take? Do you need to all power-up at the same time?"

"And what are you going to do when you get all that power?" Tess asked.

Max turned to face Tess as if remembering her for the first time, and his face fell in frustration. He swivelledhis head all around and noticed Tony and Kathleen, standing in the dining room doorway, speaking among themselves but clearly close enough to listen anyway - if they wanted to. "Damn it," he swore with more feeling than I've ever heard him curse before.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tess exclaimed. "Are you afraid that I'm going to try to double cross all of you and get this power for myself??"

"Yes, or try to," Max admitted Tess, her father, Topolsky, and Maria all made shocked faces at his bluntness. "Not that it's terribly personal - I do appreciate everything you've done to try to help, but I don't know you well enough to say how you'd react to that particular temptation. I'm not even a hundred percent sure that the three of us can be trusted with this much power, but I trust us a lot more than I do you, especially under the circumstances." His deep brown eyes locked on Tess' blue ones with as much dangerous energy as... as a phaser rifle or something. "Know this, Tess Harding - even if you could get inside that cave, what is inside is more likely to hurt you than to help you. You're not one of us."

A bluff, probably, but I stayed silent, supporting the bluff. The color wall had shown no indication of either helping or hurting Maria - it had just been a pointless kaleidescope effect to her. And why was Max acting so... so possesive, or so suspicious about it? Tess had never shown a hint that she wanted to do anything other than help us, and get her mom back safe. Then again, what Max said about not knowing her enough to trust her when huge power was up for grabs kind of hit a resonating note with me.

"I... I think I agree with Max," Alex announced. "I think you guys should all go back and do it tonight. And this time, I want to come with."

I smiled slightly and reached out my hand to hold Alex's. If I had to surrender myself to that alien artifact, then knowing that Alex would be there and watching out for me made the prospect a lot more bearable... not to mention the idea of holding him tight to take him through the jelly wall, the way that Michael had done with Maria. (Would the fact that Alex was a little taller than me cause a problem? Heck, he was taller than Max was, or Michael, though not quite so much.)

"Wait a second," Michael said. "Maria posed a question, or maybe two, and I want to hear some answers before I go anywhere near the cave again."

Max nodded, and started to glare at Tess again. She groaned loudly and got up. "Okay, okay, I get the hint, sheesh. Dad, Miss Toposlky, wanna go take a walk? I don't think any of us are exactly welcome in the inner sanctum here."

"Should Kathleen really just go out in public for a walk like that?" Maria asked. "I mean... we spent all of this careful time keeping her out of sight."

"Like Max said, the rules have all changed. Nobody's really after her anymore," I pointed out. Tess volunteered that she and her father would protect Topolsky, as far as they could.

None of us said a word as the three of them got ready to go outside, until the front door had closed behind Topolsky. Somehow, oddly, them leaving did make me feel better. We were back to... most of the original six - only Liz herself still not accounted for. I moved myself a little closer to Alex, pressing the edge of my thigh against his and moving my hand from his hand to his knee.

"Okay. Maybe I didn't need to be so obvious about that, but no sense taking chances." Max sighed. "No, we don't have to look into infinity all together - and we can do it in whatever order makes you guys feel more comfortable. As far as time... how long did I get last time?"

"Umm... something like two minutes," Maria said.

"Okay." Max considered that. "I think I'm gonna need another three, and four at a stretch for you guys. That should be enough that you'll be able to tell if you need more."

"You get three minutes thirty-five, for them," Alex bargained, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"Come off it," Max groaned. "This isn't some kind of game..."

"No, it isn't," I insisted. "But Alex is right, at least for me. You get ninety percent of what you asked for, because that's about how much I trust you at the moment." That hurt Max a little bit, I could tell it in his eyes, and I was sorry about it... but still intended to stick to my guns.

"Yeah!" Michael replied. "Is... is ninety percent of four minutes really three and thirty five seconds?"

"Actually thirty-six," Max replied absently.

"Well, I guess we'd better go now, or at least might as well," Maria said. "Umm... do you want me coming with too? Might get a little crowded with all five of us there."

I wanted to tell her it'd be okay, but figured that Michael should speak first on the question. "Nah, that won't be a problem," he said, and I grinned. "It was five of us inside the cave when Nacero was there, right? Didn't seem too bad at all."

"Plus, being with the rest of us is probably the best place for you," Max said softly. "As in the safest, I mean." He stood up and took a deep sigh. "I'll go and tell the others that we're leaving, just so that they don't worry."

"I'll come with," I said, squeezing Alex's leg softly once as a reassurance before leaving him. It didn't take us long to find Tony, Tess, and Kathleen, who had nearly walked around in a big circle in the time that we'd been talking. Tony thought about it for a moment, then said alright, and that he and Tess were going home, and invited Topolsky to come along. (Hmm... Tony, Tess, and Topolsky. I realize that I have to mix first and last name to make them the three T's, but maybe that's significant in an odd way.)

"Alright, I guess, and thanks," Kathleen said, before turning to Max and I. "Good luck."

"Thank you," I said, and they hurried into Tess' dad's car and drove off. I couldn't remember at the moment what had happened to Tess' car, or the wheels that Topolsky had stolen, but none of them were here. We had the Jeep though, and the Jetta, and that would certainly be enough to get the five of us back into the vicinity of the cave.

----------

Alex ran a hand slowly over the 'jelly wall', which was obviously completely rock solid for him, as it had been for Maria, and looked like he could hardly believe what I'd told him about it. It didn't help that we could both hardly see anything even with the flashlight turned on, because of how dark the desert night around us was. "All... all you need to do is come near this, and it becomes permeable for you?"

"Well, not quite 'just come near,'" I told him softly, "Otherwise it would probably be reacting already. It takes something like half a second after I touch it. Watch." I reached past Alex's arm to lay my fingertips against the wall, and there was that momentary pause - maybe more like a second this time. Possibly the fact that Alex was touching it too was 'confusing' the wall slightly. And then - shlurp, it had sucked my fingers through. "Want to try going through all the way?" I asked as I drew my hand back outside. As fluid as the jelly seemed while I was inside it, there was no sensation of wetness afterward, nothing clinging to my skin after the contact was broken. Probably that was a good thing.

"Umm... yeah, sure," Alex said with a smile. "Except... somehow it would reassure me if we weren't the first to go through."

Somehow that disappointed me, but I tried not to let the letdown show. Things were tense enough without adding to each other's emotional disarray on purpose. "Okay... Michael, Maria?" Alex and I crowded out of the way as the other couple climbed down, and with a smile and an expression on their faces that this was starting to become slightly more routine, Michael wrapped his arms around Maria from behind and they moved through. "Do you want Max to go through too?"

"Nah, he can be on this side, just in case for some reason it seems appropriate to pull me out from the direction," Alex said. "Though I hope that wouldn't be as painful as it sounds, now that I've said it." I agreed with a nod, and let Max climb down and wait before assuming a similar position to how Michael and Maria had gone through. Of course, this had a few implications that it didn't with the two of them, especially the fact that my chest was pressing very tightly against Alex's back, a suddenly intimate contact intense enough to take my breath away. The girls started to feel a little warm and itchy, and the muscles in my legs twitched very softly in sympathy. If we had any more time, I'd have held the pose for longer just for the fun of it, and maybe to tease Alex and see if it was affecting him as much. But Max was glaring, so I nudged Alex's leg with mine, and we stepped up to the wall. Alex was starting to go through, and then... "Hey!!"

"Umm... what is it?" I asked, aware of the oddness of the pose that we were in.

"My arms are going through, possibly because yours are on top of them, but neither my head or my legs will pass," Alex muttered, more or less. His face was probably squished up against the wall a little bit, but I didn't quite want to back away yet. Moving my legs past his would deal with HIS legs, I hoped, but how about the head? Of course, I could twist around so that I was backing into the wall, and then try swinging him through while I was in mid-wall, but this was starting to get crazy.

"You stupid thing!" I ranted at the wall, without even realizing what I was doing. "This is *my* guy - when he's with me, you let him through!!" And... and even though I hadn't expected the thing to be listening to me, it... well, what happened right away was that we both kind of fell through... Alex had been leaning against the surface, and I'd been pressing up behind him, and neither of us were prepared when all the resistance went away, reacting quickly enough to step forward with our feet. When I say that all the resistance went away, I don't mean that quite literally, but it seemed less jelly-like than it had before, even - more like regular water perhaps.

Something broke our fall before Alex hit the floor - I felt his body slowing down quickly enough that it knocked my breath away... I was still pressing up against him pretty firmly. After a second, as my eyes adjusted to the dim light of the inside, I realized that Alex had managed to stick one foot out in front of himself, and that Michael had caught his arm - the two of them working together had been what let him more or less stop his fall. We staggered a few steps together, my arms still around Alex, and straightened up, turning the formation into a face to face hug, and I blinked at the unearthly light of the cave. Once I was ready to stop hugging him, Max was standing inside the cave too.

"Isabel, I think you really did something to the wall, yelling at it like that," he grumbled. "It was different stepping through, like there wasn't as much there. I... I'm worried that you might have turned the security off entirely."

"Hey? Let me see," Maria said, stepping back up to the wall. It made sense that she should be the one to test it, and when Michael made a step to follow her, I shook my head, and he caught the hint and hung back. Maria stroked her hands over the wall and pushed against it - it was obviously still as solid as ever, for her alone.

"Okay," I suggested. "Now, Michael, take her hand, but don't try to lead the way through the wall for her. Just maintain contact, and we'll see what that does." Shrugging, Michael did so, and as soon as he touched Maria's left hand, her right suddenly sunk into the wall up to her wrist. Alex and I repeated a similar test... Alex could still not pass through himself, but as long as he was touching me - or even Max, the wall reacted to him as much as it did to any of us. Also, the 'water instead of jelly' effect seemed to be a constant now.

"We... we'll need to try it with someone else, maybe," Max said. "See if someone else would be able to get access by holding one of us hostage."

"Great," Michael sighed. "And just who, aside from Maria and Alex, and Liz once we get her back, do you want to show this cave to?" He had a point. I certainly wasn't wild about letting Tess or her father know about any of this stuff... it was a secret for us alone. Even Topolsky didn't belong here.

"Let's not worry about that right now," I said with a sigh. "I... I think it doesn't apply to anyone else - just Alex, because I specifically mentioned him to the wall, and Maria, because you brought her through a few times the hard way, Michael." Sigh. "Right now, we have another kind of wall to deal with."

"Yeah," Michael muttered a bit darkly. "Any ideas as far as the order?"

Right... Max had mentioned that, and I hadn't had much time to think about it. Did I want Max to go stare into his alien sunset again, and either get even weirder, or maybe learn enough to find some kind of balance, and reassure us? Or -- well, the only alternative was for Michael or I to go first, and I didn't really feel any comfier with that kind of pattern.

"Somewhat offhandedly, just to settle the issue," Maria blurted out, "Max, Michael, and Isabel last. Any serious objections to that?" No-one could think of any, and I stepped close to Max as he got into position for staring again, determined to monitor his mind like I had last time, for all the good it had done. Nobody said much, and when I started to feel Max's mind changing again, it seemed... a little less radical than last time. More balanced and healthy, maybe, though I might have just been desperately enough wanting to sense that that I subconsciously convinced myself.

"That's three minutes," Alex said softly, in what didn't seem like it had been nearly enough time. I looked up and realized that he was holding his wristwatch between his fingers. "Max, can you hear me?"

"Yes," Max said softly. For a second I was worried that he wouldn't want to come out of it completely, that we'd have to jog him away like last time, and he'd still be irritable and weird. But he shook himself and deliberately jerked his head so that his gaze was no longer tracking to the color wall, and we stepped away from it a little bit. "Oh- okay, I think I got most of what I need, if not all. Do you want me to talk about it, or wait until you guys have taken their turns?"

"Umm... that depends on whether what you say is going to be reassuring," I said after a few seconds.

Max smiled. "Well, it's definitely a comfort to me, especially since I don't feel that tiny bit of craziness inside my head anymore... though it might still be a danger if I need to really do something complicated with the power. Umm... Thought." He nodded, almost like a benevolent professor. "Thought is something that is real in the universe, as real as matter and energy, and as different from either as they are from each other. That is the basis of our powers... we think, and the thought creates and manipulates energy according to what it needs to do, and the energy manipulates matter. What human psionics can do..." He sighed softly. "I'm not sure that it has as much to do with specific gene patterns as much as they think - psionics are just people who have learned to create specific thought patterns. That explains why psionics run in families - a trained Psi will look for powers in their children and will train them to think in similar ways - with some variations, which is why Tess' powers don't work in quite the same way as her mother's do. Well, I guess genetics might have some impact, because genes tell brain cells how to grow, which are the origin of thought, and so on..."

My mouth fell open. "So... how does this help us?" I asked after a long moment.

"Well, I'm not sure about humans, but we... the four of us, including Nacero, and whatever aliens whose society we came from..." Max took a deep breath. "We're more tuned into the powers of unchained Thought than any humans are, even the most powerful Psis. We'd have to be, considering the kinds of things we could do before we even understood about any of this stuff. I... I think that we'd be able to learn any Psi power and use it ourselves. And that may be just the beginning."

"Then let's test that," Michael suggested. "Pierce used her powers on you, she was able to *lean* on you and Liz, get you to react in the way she wanted... at least somewhat. Can you do the same?"

"Shouldn't you be taking your turn, first, sweetie?" Maria said, an oddly wistful look on her face. "We don't have oodles of time, and Liz is still in trouble."

"Yeah, and let's *not* test it by LEANING on people's minds, please," Alex said as Michael started to move towards the color wall. "At least, not people here. How about this, Max?" He pulled out a little water bottle from his pants pocket and tossed it to my brother. "Can you make this cold-boil, like Tess did?"

Max smiled. I had Alex toss his watch to Maria, to time Michael's tour at the wall, while we watched Max concentrate on the bottle. Very quickly it started to bubble and froth, and I reached out to touch the bottle - it was just as cool as everything else here in the cave. "I think I can hot-boil it too, but that might not be good for the bottle."

"It's rated for temperatures up to three-hundred f I think... for heating things in the microwave," Alex told him. "So unless you think the plastic will get hotter than that..."

"Nope." Something changed in the boiling water, hard to tell for a moment, and then I realized that it was now breathing a small cloud of steam through the opened mouth. Again I touched the bottle, and it was definitely starting to warm up. "Okay, so now, you've not only replicated a power that was demonstrated to you, but you've also created an effect that Tess wasn't able to demonstrate to us."

"Yeah," Max agreed. "So... I realize this might be a tough question to answer, but what powers are we going to need to go into that building and take Liz back?" He thought for a moment. "I... I think I can probably paralyze everybody on the building grounds, so that they can't move, or even speak unless I allow it. Except for us, that is. That... that'll be a strain, expecially since I'm new with this kind of power, but I think I can keep it up for long enough... eight minutes, at least."

I whistled. "Damn, you don't think small, do you? But you're right... that's the kind of thing that we'll need, to go right in the front door and get her back." A pause. "That won't stop Pierce and the other psis from trying to attack us mentally, will it?"

"Not as such, no."

"Then... then maybe I should work on that element. Anti-psi measures." Thought about that a long time. "I... I probably won't be able to keep them from using their powers completely, right??"

"No," Max agreed. "That would take a lot of expertise, and probably run up against the Indeterminacy principle, too."

"Indeterminacy??" Alex repeated. "Like Heisenberg and quantum mechanics and all of that stuff?"

Max nodded. "Yep. Even though a lot of stuff that is quantum-indeterminate about the universe as far as science can tell is subject to the influence of unchained thought, there are still limits... and the workings of the human brain are fundamentally pretty indeterminate. Probably the aliens, too, and any creature in the universe that can actually think instead of just calculating draw on quantum uncertainty in their minds. That's a restriction that goes both ways... it's probably the reason why Pierce could only lean on our minds, Alex - yours, mine, and Liz's, and not simply command us to give ourselves up for capture."

"But... but what about Valenti and his deputies?" Isabel asked. "Hasn't she controlled their minds??"

"It's a little more blatant manipulation than she did with us," Max allowed, "but still probably not an overwhelming takeover, just the kind of persuasion and recruitment that anybody can do, with her power backing them up. Valenti... as much as he distrusted the FBI alien hunters, the chance to work with them was probably a strong temptation... and Pierce might have tried to vamp him, as well." I had to admit that that made some sense. I hadn't had a good look at Danielle Pierce, but she was an attractive woman, and probably had a dangerous appeal for a man of her own age.

"I get it," Alex said slowly. "The deputies just need a bit of leaning to make sure that they don't question any slightly unusual orders... they're already trained to follow the sheriff." Max nodded.

"Okay, that's time," I heard Maria say behind me, and soon she and Michael had joined the circle. "Umm... can we just get a little further in this before I take my turn?" I asked.

"Are you nervous?" Michael asked... in a surprisingly empathetic tone.

"Umm, no," I muttered, but that was a half-truth at best. "Just want to finish some planning that we were doing." And that part wa quite true enough. "So... I can't supress Pierce's powers totally, but I need to keep her from hurting us... or Liz, or leaning on us heavily enough that we can't complete the mission." Pause. "Or summoning overwhelming help from outside her headquarters, or trying to do anything that would make it impossible for us to escape..."

"Yeah, that sounds about like it," Max admitted. "If you take this on, it'll probably be the hardest job, but I think you'll be up to it." A pause. "If you can use the orb to increase your powers and your ability to multitask, though, you should definitely be the one to hold it."

"Right, you mentioned the orb before," Michael said. "Any idea what it can do? Whatever I got from the color wall, there wasn't anything about it in there."

"I... I'm still guessing, and probably getting nowhere close to its real purpose," Max admitted. "But even way back when, we could tell from holding that it had an active power, something defensive. I think that that orb was sent along to help protect us from earth natives who might want to harm us... like the special unit. That's really as much as I've worked out, but maybe when we pick it up again, things will get clearer."

"Alright." I nodded. "One more thing, and then I go to face the wall. Michael: Max is going to try to paralyze everybody in the special unit complex, and I'm on counter-psi duty." Michael thought about that, and then signalled his agreement. "As far as I can tell, what that leaves you with is barrier nullification... opening up doors, making holes through walls, blasting out any automated weapons that don't need humans operating them to fire on us. Do you think you're up for that?"

Michael grinned. "Just watch me. I'll probably be able to stay on my toes just in case something unexpected comes up - or if you or Max need any help with your own assignments."

"Great," Max said, and I definitely agreed with that sentiment.

"Okay... so Maria and I should probably wait behind somewhere safe while you do this," Alex said softly, and I turned to face him. "Not that I really look forward to getting left behind - but even with your new powers, this is going to be heavily risky, and everybody coming along without huge amounts of power available kind of increases the danger for everybody, it seems to me."

"Umm... yeah, I think you're right there," I said sadly. "Wish it wasn't so, but..."

"What... what do you think, babe?" Michael asked Maria, his gruff voice doing a bad job of hiding the affection he felt for her and the nervousness in his heart... probably at the thought that she might insist on coming along.

"We... we shouldn't go inside, I'm down with that much?" Maria agreed softly. "But howabout you need two getaway drivers, huh??"

"We can't just wait outside, Maria," Alex argued. "That'd be a dead giveaway."

"If it's timed well enough in advance, we don't need to," Maria shot back. "Just drive down the street at the appropriate time."

"They won't be able to plan everything that well," Alex countered. "Something unexpected might go wrong. What if they're delayed and we have to sit outside, a perfect target? What if they have to come out early and we're not there??"

"We... we can discuss this more later," Max said. "If Maria's plan has merit, more than just leaving a car or two somewhere that we can get to it easily and driving off, then we'll use it. But meanwhile... I think Isabel has an appointment with her power-up."

"Yeah." I sighed, shook out my legs, and went over towards the creepy wall. Alex stayed near, just holding onto my hand - and when he didn't take the watch back, Maria followed to time me out herself. Max came along too, standing opposite me, his back to the colors. I wasn't sure if he intended to monitor my mind, as I had done for him, or was just coming along for moral support, but either way I appreciated the gesture, When I looked back to Michael one time before turning my gaze straight ahead, he seemed to be looking at the folding book again. Hmm... I wondered if he was able to make any sense of it now.

After the first fraction of a second of looking at the colors, I wasn't aware of seeing them in any conscious sense, or of my friends standing around me, though I could hear them faintly speaking, and felt a trace of my feet standing on the ground, and a stronger sensation of Alex's hand in my own, though that still wasn't quite like a real touch usually is. I... I'm not sure I can explain what happened for those few minutes in any more detail.

All I know is that when Maria's voice reached out to me and told me it was time to come back out, my perceptions of reality had changed.

MICHAEL:

"I... I hate to say this, Max... but what if - what if Pierce has already gotten to Liz, at least a little? She, um, she might..." I felt horrible saying it, but somebody kinduv had to.

"We take her out of there, no matter what," Max said in his low, dangerous, no-alternatives voice. "As much as it kills me to say this, we probably shouldn't trust her completely... you're right, Danielle or one of the other psis might have 'conditioned' her to help them in some respect. But leaving her inside isn't an answer to that - they'll only have more time to take her brain apart that way. Once she's out, maybe we can find a way to reverse anything that's been done to her mind."

"Alright," I said, a little reassured, but not much. "What if they hang subtlety and just have her struggle and resist being rescued?" I thought about that for a moment. "I guess if you... you could paralyze her too, without hurting her, and then I can probably carry her over my shoulder. Liz isn't a heavy girl."

"Hmm... yeah, or I could," Max agreed, though he seemed, understandably, a little disquieted by the thought. "You're going to need your hands free to get us out I think."

"Alright." We were driving back in from the cave, and I was looking for the first left turn that would take us off the main highway, so that we could skirt the edge of town and get to Max's that way, instead of going through the city center. Maria, Isabel, and Alex were following behind in Maria's car. :So, once we've got the orb... what next? Do you want to talk to Katy and the Hardings??"

"Yeah, I think so." Max sighed. "For one thing, I don't expect that we're going to need getaway drivers, which means that Alex and Maria are probably safer off staying with them when we go."

"Right." I'd been starting to think the same thing. Admittedly, all three of us were probably going to be tired and confused as we made our exit from Pierces' building... (when we exited, not if, but WHEN...) but the simple fact was that with Max, Isabel, myself, and Liz, we were four, and thus could fit easily into the Jeep. Having one extra driver either meant an uncomfortable level of cramming, or two different vehicles - both complications that I didn't think would be helpful.

"Any... any idea where this might be leading us, Maxwell?" I blurted out. "I mean... looking heyond the time when we rescue Liz, and make sure that Pierce hasn't done anything to hurt her or turn her against us." Max smiled slightly at that thought, which made me feel a bit less nervous and oppressed too. "Do we keep pushing against the special unit, trying to... to destroy them or at least cripple them?"

"I... I don't think they're going to stop coming after us just because we take Liz back," Max pointed out. "I'm not sure how much damage we'll be able to do to them, but we have to try."

"No way to... I dunno, negotiate a truce, declare peace??" I asked, somewhat surprised at myself for suggesting the notion, but somehow felt that it had to be said.

"Hmm... not now. Even after we get Liz back, I doubt that they'd respect us enough to keep their word. Maybe after we demonstrate that we can get as good as we give."

"Or... maybe that might just make them more determined," I pointed out. "They look at us and see aliens, remember. Even if their major motivation is greed, wanting to somehow get our powers for their own, there has to be an element of fear there too. The more we act aggressively, like evil aliens trying to take over a beachhead on earth, the more that fear is going to grow."

"Uggh." Max groaned, and I wondered if that meant I had persuaded him of my point. "The thing is - what's the alternative then?"

"I... I'm not sure," I admitted. "Maybe we get Liz back and worry about the rest later."

"Doesn't suck by me," he replied, and for a moment I could see just how worried he was about his girl.

Soon, we were driving down Max's street and parking quietly across the street. The familiar huddle of five formed easily on the sidewalk and part of somebody's lawn. "Okay, I'll go in and get it," Izzie suggested. "You guys just try and be as inconspicuous as possible. If it isn't possible to avoid waking up my parents, I'm probably the best to smooth talk them and get back out quickly." It had to be really late now, though I wasn't sure just how much... maybe between midnight and one AM. It seemed weird for so much to have happened since we found out Liz was captured, around six, but... well - things were moving fast, that was the best way to put it.

Max smiled. "Okay, good luck." She hurried across the road, and I turned to Maria, to distract myself from worrying, as much as possible. "Max and I talked it over on the way - we think we can handle the driving thing among ourselves."

Maria thought about that for a long moment. "Okay, well, it was worth volunteering." And all of a sudden, she flung herself at me in a hug so tight it was seriously restricting my breathing. "Be careful, spaceboy, and know that I love you," she whispered at my ear. "At least once, after you go through those doors, there's going to arise an urge to do something pretty stupid, and I want you to be extra strong and refuse to give in. Get Liz - get out, as simply and straightforwardly as you can. Make sense?"

She relaxed her hold somewhat to look deep into my eyes - since there was a streetlight shining on my face, presumably she could make them out better than I could see hers. "Yeah... yeah, I got it," I muttered. "Vote no on stupid." And oddly, my eyes were starting to tear up. "Keep... keep Tess and the grownups in line, and we'll be back soon - with Liz."

"Yeah," she agreed, and though I couldn't see her eyes well enough to say if they had any tears in them, but her voice seemed to be quavering noticeably. "I... I really believe that you will." I wrapped her up in my arms again.

"You got it?" Max asked, and I looked up, I hadn't thought there'd been time for Isabel to go into the house and back out, but here she was, and she held the orb up so that we could all see it.

"Piece of cake. Think they were both asleep the whole time."

"Hmm... guess they aren't too worried about any of the three of us," Max mused. "Well, okay, I think that the three T's are going to be at Harding house. That's our next stop."

----------

"Alright, Max," Tony Harding said softly. "Good luck, and yes, we'll be happy to stay with Alex and Maria while you do your thing. There's one detail I have that might help you out, though."

"Oh, what's that?" Isabel asked, her voice none too friendly to him.

"I've managed to reverse the video feeds and get security footage from the building where Liz is being held, routed to the bigscreen TV in the lounge." Tony smiled a very private smile. "Or at least, I *did* manage it. The feed is cut now, but I was able to sketch out a pretty good schematic first I think." He hurried into another room, and we followed until he picked up a roll of plain white paper, eight or nine inches wide and hard to say how long, pressing it into Max's hand. "You shouldn't have much trouble figuring out my notations I think."

Max blinked, unrolled the paper a bit and looked at it, shot sidelong glances at Isabel and I, and then focused his attention back on Tony. So did I, and just as a test of my new powers, I considered him in several different ways other than visually... extending my awareness to pick up muscle twitches and tiny changes in skin condition, even attempting to fathom the surface of his mind, what he thought about the topic of conversation. All of this, as it happened, was just in place for about a second before Max asked, "Tony, are you sure that this isn't some kind of trick, that the Special Unit mightn't have fed you false information deliberately?"

"That... that's always a possibility, but I really don't think it's very likely in this particular case, Max," he said. "Maybe one chance in a hundred thousand." He was sincere, as far as my senses could detect, and this was something that he was competent to judge about. I could detect some of his emotional reactions, his nervousness about Tess being mixed up in the power struggle, worry for his wife... but there was no deceptiveness about how he was relating to us. He honestly thought his best chance at a happy ending was for us to get one too.

"Alright," Isabel said. "Well, if they cut off your signal, maybe they're guessing at what kind of use you might want to make of it. To me, that sounds like we should get going, before they can prepare any more."

"Alright," Tess said. "Good luck!" Alex hurried up to hug Isabel goodbye, and Topolsky shook Max's hand, and then the three of us headed back out to the Jeep. The rest of them were getting ready to drive back to Maria's house. We'd rendezvous with them there.

----------

Max parked just around the corner, so that his car wouldn't be visible from the building, or passed by anybody making a patrol of the city block it inhabited... but also not too far away from the front door. Getting out of the car, we sort of naturally fell into a loose formation, Max leading the way, me just a little behind and to his right, and Isabel taking up the left flank. We didn't jog or dawdle, but strode confidently in step up the sidewalk, diagonally across the street (which had no traffic this late at night,) and towards the Special Unit building. If anybody could have watched us coming, I'm pretty sure we would have looked DAMN cool. A little bit like one of those 'power shots' on Buffy the Vampire slayer that makes it into the opening credits the next year -- if not sooner.

At the nearest entrance, which was in fact the 'front door' if there could be said to be one for the facility, four guards with weapons stood at attention, quite visible from the sidewalk. They spotted us and I think at least one shouted when he recognized Max's face in a patch of streetlight... and then Max waved, and all of them turned as still as statues. One, who had been about to run toward us, couldn't keep his balance without moving his feet, toppled over, and collapsed into a heap as he hit the turf. Another guard sort of wilted from his frozen position and fell also. I guessed that the paralyzation tactic Max was using was sort of a blended tactic... it initially locked up muscles and limbs into a state of rigidity, but if the position being held was hard for muscles to maintain a rigid pose, then they would relax completely.

We walked casually up between the helpless guards, never breaking stride, and I unlocked the door. Max must have been extending his paralyzer effect, because the only motion from inside was someone slumping off a chair. Isabel gasped and held the orb up in her hands a little higher.

"What... what is it?" Max asked her.

"It... it's Pierce!!" She exclaimed. "Max, she's trying to... I'm not sure, to block your paralysis field or something!!"

"Can... can you block her blockers?" I asked.

"I - I dunno!!" That word came out slightly squeaky. "It... it wasn't something that I was prepared for!!"

I looked up, at Max, who looked like he was concentrating really hard, and more than a little bit scared. At the other end of the lobby, a big, brawny guy took a tentative step toward us.

All of a sudden my hand reached out to cover Isabel's on the orb. I wasn't sure what would happen, I just acted out of instinct.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	19. Part 5d

LIZ:

I shook my head, and realized with a little faint surprise that it was lying on the pillow of my bunk. Not a bad pillow, really, certainly I've laid my head on lumpier rests. Slightly stiff, which kinduv fit for the Special Unit. They're so rigid, never yielding...

Okay, enough about the pillow. What had happened? I tried to remember what had happened. Pierce's calm, assured voice hit me instantly. Pierce had been asking me about Max... about what he could do, where he came from, and how many other aliens he knew. I... I hadn't told her anything - at least, I don't remember telling her anything out loud. Had she been able to find things out the same way she got me to come to her, with her psi powers? Or had I babbled helplessly about everything, without remembering a word of it?

And... why was I just lying here? My arms were shackled again, not together but spread a few feet apart. But more than the physical restaints, I felt chained up by a foggy feeling inside my head, like there was no point in struggling or being restless. Was this part of Pierce's plan for me? Had she conquered me, turned my mind into her pawn already?

I couldn't bring myself to care.

Soon, a deep voice inside was telling me, Max would come to the door. I wasn't looking forward to that with excitement, pinning all of my hopes on it, as I had when I first came here. I wasn't even terribly sure what would happen once Max stepped into the room. I just knew that there was no need to do anything but lie here until he arrived. It wouldn't be long.

----------

MAX:

I watched, straining with all of my mind, as Michael and Isabel's fingers touched. There was a... it was like a flash, except not in terms of visible light. A similar kind of sensation for my new paranormal senses, or something like that. Isabel shook slightly, as if she just might collapse, but that was only for a second. And the big guy who I hadn't been able to completely paralyze toppled over like his bones had been made of straw. "Good enough," Michael muttered. "Any other trouble spots, Maximum overdrive?"

Hmm... that was about the wildest and weirdest ending to my name that Michael had dreamed up yet... did that mean he was really nervous? "Umm... no, at least not for now," I promised. "But we need to find the right way to Liz's room RIGHT now, before Pierce or her parapsychic crew can come up with many more surprises for us." I looked around, trying to align the reality of the Special Unit headquarters with the schematic that Tony had given me. The roll of paper was still stuck in the back of my pants pocket, but somehow I didn't want to consult that, as if looking at it directly would distract my concentration more than trying to remember it.

"This way," Michael said, waving at a door. He was about to put his fingers on the knob when he suddenly froze. Had someone managed to paralyze *him?* No, he was apparently just being really cautious about something. Stepped back a little and frowned at the door - it blew open with a loud bang and stayed stuck, firmly open, the edge of the door possibly fused to the side of a big reception desk. "These guys are really tricky," Michael muttered. "The doorknob was rigged to deliver a high-voltage charge. Probably wouldn't have killed me, but I'd have been hurt and unable to use my powers for a bit."

Right. And if I'd tried to use my powers to heal Michael... then probably some of the psionics would have been freed of the paralysis. The conflict going on here in this building was like a deadly chess game... move and countermove, all threat and counterthreat. So far, no important pieces had been captured... not since Liz had literally been taken away from me - but how long would that go on? Michael led the way down the hallway, Isabel followed, and I brought up the rear.

Suddenly Isabel screamed. I whirled around, worried that she'd been hurt, but it was just a scream of fright, as far as I could tell. Another guard had moved - not quite as big as the one in the lobby, but certainly strong and heavy enough to take down Michael or I, possibly even take both of us on together. And there was more movement further down the corridor. "What... is someone trying to block you again, Max?" Michael muttered. "I... I can't detect any psionic power being used like that, but maybe..."

"No - no, it's not the same thing this time," I growled. "They're... they're not normal somehow... their minds, their brains are different from everybody else here. Maybe... maybe Pierce did something to them, something so that they'd be hard for anyone to control or nullify. Anybody but her." There was something mechanical about the minds of the guards - something sealed off, like a computer that's password locked and anti-virused and had all of the other usual security exploits blocked off. Usual human minds are full of security holes... that's part of what makes them so versatile and creative... and most of the time, being vulnerable doesn't hurt them too much. But these guys... well, if I had a whole bunch of time and was better with my powers, I might have been able to power through those defenses.

Luckily, I realized that there was another way to tackle the situation. Running up to one of the doors along the corridor, I grabbed a door handle and seperated it from the door using the power. It wasn't like the doorknob that Michael had refused to touch - it was at least eight inches, long, and straight. Concentrating, I shot the handle like an arrow - WHIZZ, WHAMMM!! Yes. My projectile had smashed into his shoulder, shattering at least two bones, and he collapsed, bleeding steadily. I wasn't sure if he was in real danger or not, but didn't worry about much... it didn't seem like he had much of a life, just serving as a weapon on Pierce's behalf, and breaking her toys didn't seem like a very bad idea at that moment.

A fraction of a second later, a wave of dizzyness hit me, and I had to concentrate as much as I possibly could to keep the paralysis field up. If it collapsed entirely, I knew, this whole building would come alive like a rattled beehive, full of angry drones, (sorry, I should way workers to keep up the beehive analogy, right, since drone bees are the playboys who never fight or work or do anything but lie around thinking about having sex. It's annoying that the non-bee sense of 'drone' has come to imply something much more like worker bees... sorry, I got off track there. Back to the scene.)

Right, if I let the paralysis field, the Special Unit worker bees would buzz into activity, defending their home from the intruders. Which meant that I probably shouldn't have tried to do that door handle trick myself. Michael or even Isabel could have spared the power more easily. I could hear Michael's voice as I crouched, desperate to maintain that power feed even if it meant losing my balance. "Max!! You okay man?"

So were we full circle now, so nervous that there weren't any nicknames at all? Or maybe he just wanted to keep things brief. "I... I'll be okay," I assured him somewhat optimistically. "Take care of the other one... same way - unless you've got a much better idea."

I couldn't pay much attention to the sounds that followed. What was clearer were familiar arms and hands helping to support me - pulling me gently up straight. There was another flash and I realized that, whether she meant to or not, Isabel was supporting my powers by touching me, just like Michael had supported her back in the lobby. Maybe the orb was helping me too... though it somehow felt... like the Orb was frustrated or balked at the situation. Was that right?? Could this gizmo really have enough awareness and personality to feel anything?

No, it didn't, I decided a second later. That was my own awareness and personality, anthropomorphizing the orb or something. I could tell that it wasn't doing what it had been built for, that was all. But what *had* it been built for?

I opened my eyes and looked at Isabel in the dim light of the corridor. For an odd moment it seemed to me that she should have dressed up a little for covert ops... her best leather pants and a badass tank top or something like that. Instead, she was still wearing her school clothes from today - a casual sundress, little bit flouncy with blue-purple print flowers on a white background, little black shoes, and her hair all the way down. All three of us looked a little out of place for this mission, actually... Michael wasn't too bad in his grunge-rock t-shirt and blue-black jeans... and here I was in a dressy green shirt and dockers.

"Come on, we're on the clock right?" Michael urged, and I followed Isabel up the hallway. The second guard had a door handle sticking closer to the center of his chest, and he looked very pale already. I didn't look at him much.

I'm not going to describe every step of the way to Liz's cell. It went pretty smoothly, except for an actual motion-detecting pulse laser that got Isabel on the neck, (just a blister, really, but it'd had been worse if she hadn't been dodging,) and Michael eventually had to blow it up, much as I'd have loved to disconnect it and take it back for Alex to look at. But anyway. We came up to a door, Michael pointed at the panel of buttons and lights next to the sliding reinforced door, and sparks jumped from it in every direction. The door slid open about halfway and then ground to a halt... sounding like it would take more energy than was available on the whole block to get them to move in either direction now.

But they were open enough for anyone who wasn't superhumanly broad across the shoulders to walk straight through, and I could see inside, to where Liz lay on a narrow institutional bed, her wrists shackled to the sides of the bed. "Max!" she exclaimed. "Is it really you?"

I couldn't help but chuckle and grin. "One hundred percent genuine, my love. Not reconstituted." As I said the words, though, a nagging voice inside me was wondering. Was I quite the same Max that Liz had known before she was taken? After staring into that color wall and taming these incredible powers? Had I made a deal with the devil to get her back that had forever changed the Max that she fell in love with? Well, there was no time for that now.

As desperately as I wanted to rush into the cell and free Liz myself, take her into my arms, we had to stick by the division of labor, especially now. It was Michael's job to take on minor tasks involving the use of alien powers, such as seperating the cords of Liz's shackles.

And it was my job to paralyze anyone who threatened our attempt to take Liz outside... including Liz herself, if that was necessary. And how, exactly, would I know?

Well, asking sounded like it wasn't a completely stupid idea for where to start. "Liz," I called as Michael walked into the cell. "Are you okay? Did Pierce hurt you??"

"Umm..." She hesitated until Michael leaned over her to unfasten the far shackle. I noticed suddenly that Liz was dressed in some kind of unflattering yellow hospital gown. "I... I think I'm okay. They... there was a doctor, gave me a full physical, and then Pierce asked a lot of questions. Right now, I wanna get out, as soon as possible. How did you get past the guards?"

"Just walked," Michael said. "They didn't lift a finger to stop us... thanks to Max's paralysis field."

Liz smiled as she sat up, her wrists free of restraints now, and her smile was a huge relief to see. She stood up, the gown revealing bare feet and a stretch of leg up past one knee, and hurried out of the cell after Michael. I stretched out a hand to touch her as soon as I could, and when we connected, it was like a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning.

But not in the good, poetical way. The stream of energy that shot into my body was nothing like the healthy, scary, invigorating charge I've always got when it was me and Liz. This was painful, subtly malignant... and before it, my grasp of the powers of Unchained thought collapsed like a little house of cards. I couldn't detect anything except with my absolutely human five senses, but there was suddenly a lot of background noise, and I knew that the paralysis field had come crashing down too. Special unit headquarters was humming back to life.

----------

ALEX:

"Okay, I'll bet seventy-five," I said, putting three quarters into the pot on the strength of my pair of queens, one of which was hidden from the others, face down on the carpet in front of me. When I looked up, I was just in time to see Tess shudder. "What...." I almost said 'what's wrong', but felt that might be a jinx. "What's happening?"

"I... I think that they're going in, or getting ready to." Tess sighed. "One of them... I think Isabel, is trying to prevent other psis from influencing them... it's masking my sense of them. I think I might not get any more info until the whole thing is over."

"That... that's okay," Maria said, keeping up a brave front in total tough cookie mode. "They'll come here when it's all done. Umm... Alex, I'll see your seventy-five and raise you a dollar twenty five." She pushed two one dollar bills into the center. I considered Maria's cards... the jack, ten, and eight of hearts were her uppers. What mysteries her hole card held were impossible to say... but she couldn't hold a better pair than I did. If she had four cards to a straight flush so far, then she might have a good chance to get dealt a fifth card that would complete at least one or the other. Still, my position was good. I decided to call, when the bet came back around to me.

"Way too rich for these cards," Tony laughed, tossing a collection of low-ranked odds and ends in. There was a long pause. "Um, honey..."

Tess's face was a perfect picture of deep concentration that focused somewhere far beyond the poker game. "Tess, if you can't get anything from our three musketeers, then don't worry about it. Just play your cards," Maria advised.

"No... no, it's not them this time," she whispered, here eyes growing slightly wider. "It's... it's *him.* He's coming. He's coming here!"

"Who?" Maria asked, but suddenly I knew... or at least, I could guess. There were only four beings that Tess could dial into like that, as far as we knew, and she'd just ruled three out.

"Nacero? Nacero is coming near to Maria's house?" Tess nodded. "Do... can you tell what he wants?"

"Umm... no, not yet," Tess admitted. "His mind is agitated, but more focused than he usually is."

"Maybe... maybe he changed his mind about helping them," Tony said softly.

"But... but then why isn't he going to them?" Tess asked. Nobody could answer that one.

"Any notion on an ETA?" Maria asked her.

"Umm... if he keeps moving at this rate... something slightly less than three minutes."

"Until he knocks on the door?" I asked.

"Not sure, but he'd be able to reach the house, whichever part of it he chooses to, within that time."

This was getting pretty damn serious somehow. I stood up, the card game forgotten. "Do you have a bearing??"

"Umm..." Tess concentrated, and pointed off towards the desert landscape painting on the Deluca's living room wall. (Painted by one of Amy's 'discoveries', about nine years ago, and given to her as a thank-you for launching his career.) That direction, I realized, would be north up Montana avenue. If he was coming down the street, we'd probably be able to see him out the living room windows before he got to the door... though likely nobody but Tess could recognize him, especially given how few streetlights that shone on the sidewalk there.

I brought out my watch and counted along in my head as the seconds ticked by silently. All of a sudden Maria gasped and took several deep and heavy breaths. "Umm, sorry."

"Heheh, that's okay," I insisted. Maria has always had this tendency to hold her breath for too long when things get really tense, though she's never really had as much reason to feel so before we started hanging around with aliens. It was maybe forty-five seconds after Maria had caught her breath when she pointed at someone walking up the street. Much to my surprise, I could actually recognize him - well, there were enough other cues that a glimpse of face was only confirmation.

"Mister Valenti!"

"No." Tess chuckled. "Not the real Sheriff Valenti." Maria and I turned to stare at her.

"You mean that's... well, you've gotta give Nacero props for chutzpah." I mumbled. Certainly it was a disguise that few would suspect unless they knew that the real Valenti was elsewhere. As Non-Valenti came up the front walk and climbed the porch steps, Maria and Tess led the way to the front door.

"Hello," Tess said softly when Maria opened the door. "I... I think this is the first time that we've really met."

"What brings you?" I asked.

"They're in danger," Nacero said bluntly, taking off his cowboy hat. (It looked just like Valenti's usual hat, though I suppose that he had probably made it out of whatever other clothes he had had on, by molecular manipulation.)

"Yeah, they're in danger!!" Maria said. "They walked into the Special Unit headquarters, because you refused to go with them! You were ranting in the cave about them being thieves, and now suddenly you come here like you're all concerned about them?"

"Keep a lid on it, Mar," I said softly, putting a hand on Maria's arm. If Nacero was suddenly more worried about our friends and more inclined to help them, that was a good thing, and getting all angry about his inconsistency wouldn't help with anything. Of course, *we* all needed to keep evidence of inconsistency in mind, so that we wouldn't be too surprised if he changed his mind in the middle of something.

"They... they don't understand the full risk," he muttered.

"All right, then. What can we do?"

"Come along, quickly. Chores for everyone." And Nacero turned and walked out the front door.

"So - do we follow?" Kathleen asked. I turned around - had forgotten her, she'd been lying down in Maria's room while the rest of us were playing poker.

"I... I don't think he's going to wait," Maria said. "So I'm going. I... I have to do something to help Michael. What about you, Alex?"

I thought about Isabel, and even though this might not be the rationally smartest strategy for protecting her, I agreed with Maria. "Let's roll."

Without a word the other three fell in behind us.

----------

ISABEL:

"Max - Max, what happened?" I blurted out, though I really knew a lot of what had happened. First, the paralysis field had come crashing down, just as Max and Liz touched hands. Then, my sense of Max's own power disappeared - I was still aware of him as a living person, but - well, with no more special energy than Liz had. Considering how much we needed that energy, that was deeply worrying. And what I didn't understand was how!

"Umm..." Max seemed too confused by the situation to answer, which really shouldn't have been a big surprise. I whirled on Michael, trying to keep priorities straight. "Can you re-establish the paralysis field, at least locally?"

Michael gulped. "Guess I'm gonna have to try." Michael concentrated for a long moment. "Okay... that's something. I think I've actually got most of the building, except where psis have managed to wall out my influence." He sighed. "But are we capable of getting Liz out of here, with only your powers and mine, Iz? What the hell did Liz do?"

"It wasn't her fault," Max muttered, and I turned around, (carefully,) to see that Max was holding Liz in his arms, and she seemed to have passed out. "Pierce, the bitch. She must have figured out some way to give Liz a booby-trap, tuned to our connection."

"Alright," I said. "No-- nobody's blaming her. But..." And then it was all I could do not to shriek. Some sort of heavy mental force was driving into my protective field... like attacking a window with a big screwdriver. The pain was horrible. More things started to run silently through my mind between the blows. Pierce and the other people in the special unit WANTED us to get this far and retrieve Liz - so that the trap could be sprung and Max, (arguably the most powerful of us all, though Danielle Pierce probably didn't know that,) could be nullified while we were already in the lion's den. Thus... they hadn't really been trying hard to impede our progress or hurt us until this point... just throwing up enough barriers that we weren't entirely suspicious. Like Andre the giant in 'the Princess Bride', they'd wanted us to feel like we were doing well! And now that the moment had come, Pierce and the other psis were really pulling out the stops... doing whatever they could to catch us, trap us and put us in little cells like Liz's.

"Aaahh!" Again the screwdriver... no, it felt like an ice pick now - an ice pick literally driving itself into my brain. I couldn't form the words to explain to Max and Michael what was going on, though they could probably guess if they were smart enough... and anyway, what could they do? Max was nearly helpless now, and Michael was straining his powers to the utmost just to keep us from getting mobbed by guards and agents with weapons. But - but there was something that could help, if I could only realize it. Something... something that I was touching. Something that was touching my hand.

And then it came clear. The orb! I'd been holding it, but not really drawing on it when the attack struck, and as much as it might want to protect me, (or not,) it couldn't do anything unless I made the required effort. This time, when I concentrated, I felt as if I was coming closer to understanding the enigmatic thing... there was an energy inside it, but also... also something like the Thought that Max had spoken of, but not exactly the same as thought the way we understood it, because the orb wasn't like a computer or anything like that. It couldn't THINK of its own volition, but it could... I lost the rest. It could provide mental power patterns that we could use more easily, though, and there was something within it that could help me to Think actively, to use my alien heritage. I drew on one of those patterns, to refine my shield and help proof it against the attacks that were coming in. That worked... but the psis just retreated slightly once they realized that I had improved my defenses, not battering their brains out against it. And keeping this mental wall up was tiring me, just as much as maintaining the paralysis field on his own must be exhausting for Michael. We HAD to make our way out, or we might tire too quickly and be defenseless before Max regained his own abilities. "Come on," I muttered.

The nearest exit to Liz's cell was actually further on in the way that we'd been going, not back the way that we'd come. I'm not sure why Max had led us through the front door in the first place, if not because he thought that it was the most unlikely and unexpected spot to make an insertion. But now, probably the special unit would send whatever forces they could to both places, and it'd be easier to get reinforcements to the front lobby because it was near the middle of the building. As I walked, I felt something psionic - a confusion field that one of the younger mentalics was trying to drop around me and the others, but it dropped away burning from my defenses, not even causing a second of hesitation. Max moved into the middle, still carrying Liz - that made sense, because they were now both vulnerable and couldn't bring up the rear, so Michael would have to protect them. Damn it!!

A metal door slammed down from over my head, catching a few of my fingers and scraping off skin, blocking our way. Hmm... was that entirely automatic or had somebody set it off, one of the psis using their powers to interact with computer circuits, or an operative that was too far away for Michael to paralyze? The why didn't exactly matter... it was one more thing that we'd need to expend energy on, and a delaying tactic to slow us down while they tried to come up with other ideas. That was the problem with having come in openly... everybody in the building had to know that we were here, and if they could throw enough crap at us, we wouldn't be able to power through it. Maybe it would have been better to wait, to see if there was any way to sneak in - but considering that Pierce had to be waiting for just such an attempt, maybe it was a foolish thought.

At least I could think of a smart way to get past this door without spending too much of my power reserves on it, though. Moving it aside through brute force or melting a hole in it big enough to crawl through seemed like they weren't particularly good propositions. Instead, I spent a few moments finding the circuits that controlled the door, and overrode them myself, tricking it into coming back up. Then the four of us hurried through quickly, (or maybe three, considering that Liz wasn't moving under her own power.) And, on the other side of the door, maybe twenty feet away, were another four guards... not moving, but blocking the way. Even if Michael had paralyzed them, that wouldn't be enough to get us through.

"Whatcha think?" Michael asked, frowning tiredly.

"No help for it - push them aside," Max suggested, and that made a bunch of sense to me. Waving, I moved the men this way and that, to whichever wall they were closer to. More than one of them lost their balance and fell, but there was a clear path that we could move through.

I stepped forward, when Michael suddenly yelled out "NO!!"

Something pushed me back and to the side, and there was a loud explosive sound, and a breeze with an oddly burnt smell to it. Something clattered along the floor, and I realized that it was a pistol. "One of them was... was bent like the ones we ran into earlier," Michael muttered. "Just smart enough to play frozen like the others until he had a good shot." I shuddered, realizing that only a few inches, and Michael's quick reaction, had saved me from getting shot. That would have been game over for all of us - the psis would have taken care of Michael once I was unable to keep the mental defense field up. And something else occured to me - last time we'd run into 'bent' guards, Max and Michael had dealt with them by using ordinary objects as projectiles. Now, one of them had used a projectile against me.

"Is... could he still try to hurt us as we pass, even without the gun?" I asked. I wasn't even sure which of the four guards had been the one who fired at me, now that Michael had taken the gun away. Everything had happened too quickly to make out details.

"No, he won't be hurting anyone for a while," Michael muttered, indicating one of the men, slumped against the wall with his eyes closed. I wasn't sure what Michael had done to knock him out and didn't care - I just trusted his judgement. We stepped past the four of them. Now, there should only be one more room to make it through - the vestibule between this hallway and the door to outside - the same door where Max had led the guards astray while Michael and I were keeping an eye on Miss Topolsky at the sheriff's station. It was an obvious place to put guards... and other surprises. And right when we were busiest with that sort of thing and closest to getting out, would be the perfect moment for the psis to redouble their mental attack against my defenses, trying to catch me distracted or overwhelm my resources.

But as I waited in the corridor, trying to prepare for what we might be up against next, to spare a bit of thought to probe into what was waiting for us past the door, what happens? (You might well be able to guess.) Off Michael goes, brushing past Max, Liz, (I wouldn't have thought there was room for him to fit past, given that Max was still carrying her, but there you go,) and also right by me, into the door. A guard screamed and shot something... not a regular gun, but something that coughed like my Dad when he's got a bad winter cold and buried a squishy slug only far enough into the wall to make it stick out. Probably they were meant to incapacitate us without killing, so that Pierce could take us apart at her leisure. That thought definitely didn't reassure me.

Wait a second... what was going on here? How did the soldier react so quickly - was Michael's paralysis field working on him at all?? He probably couldn't have gotten the shot off so quickly if he were 'bent.' I explored the channels of power in the vicinity, and realized that somebody had blocked off part of Michael's paralysis field without either of us knowing, because there was too much else going on. I drew on the Orb, sent out a sharp blast of power against the anti-paralysis field - actually, several sharp blasts, like iron spikes. (It was getting hard to keep track of the counter-counter-counter measures going on around here.) I felt the soldiers go rigid and smiled slightly. We moved into the vestibule, not lingering. Almost there!!

Of course, it couldn't be quite THAT easy. When Michael touched the bar that would unlatch the exterior door so he could push it open, it exploded with a hail of bright purple electrical sparks, sending him across the room. At nearly the same moment, a crushing blow of insubstantial psionic power landed on my defenses, like one of those construction machines with the double-jointed claw - have you ever seen one of those things just banging the back of its claw against concrete or asphalt to break it up into loose pieces that can get scooped up? That was what it was like, with the claw pounding down on my head. I saw Max trying to rush over to help Michael, but there was no way that either of them could help me. All that I could do was wait... wait for Michael to get the door open, and then run, until I was out of reach of the special unit psis' power... if I could run that far with it pounding at me like this. As the impacts started to speed up, each of them was hitting harder... and it felt like little things were exploding in my head each time. Gray cells going splatter, blood cells rupturing and leaking. Was that real, or just in my imagination, or maybe something that they were trying to get me to believe in? If there was really even one blood hemmorage in my brain, then I probably didn't have long to live. And--- and the thought hit me yet again. Once my shields came crashing down...

A hand grabbed my own, and a little strength seemed to flow through that contact, not enough, but a little. The effect of that seemed to spur the Orb on to greater efficiency, and I could concentrate on something other than the battering mental offensive, even though it was getting more frantic. The hand was pulling me, and I hurried along with it, stepping out into sunlight before I'd realized I was going through the door. We were outside, into the Roswell night!

But not home free - that immediately became clear. Not only were the Special Unit fiends keeping up their mental attack - though they did seem to be tiring a little, but I was mentally aware of the world outside the building for the first time... and realized that other masked or uniformed operatives were out there too. Had Pierce managed to call for reinforcements after Max lost his powers? Or had these agents been starting to cast their net even before we walked inside??

There was no way to answer... and no sense in which it really mattered this moment. The three of us just ran - Liz was starting to stir in Max's arms, it looked like, and her eyes fluttered open occasionally, but he was evidently not about to let her walk on her own two feet. Michael led the way across the empty street... and then stifferened as a pulse of energy ran through his body. I saw a minute, almost insubstantially thin taser thread running from the side of his back into a nearby bush, where the head of a crouching sniper could just be seen.

TO BE CONTINUED!


	20. Part 6a: The Reason

(Maria):

"Okay, why did you need us to come and run right into the path of danger with you?" I muttered at Valenti's back, which was really Nacero's, as he led the way towards Special Unit HQ. Almost as if he heard me, the shapeshifter slowed, cocked his head this way and that (still jogging at a pretty good clip,) and pulled a fairly tight left turn down a side street. I was about to try asking him why when I made out a man in a dark green cap getting out of a two-door sedan a little ways away... and pulling a case out behind him that was big enough to hold a mean-looking rifle. Suddenly and silently Valenti/Nacero leapt like no creature native to earth could possibly have leapt... bounding into the star-fille sky and forward as if he'd been launched with some sort of elastic catapult. There was one instant where the Special Agent saw the shape descending out of the darkness right towards him and tried to react, to dodge back into the car - but he didn't have nearly enough time to. Nacero was on him and I looked away, not wanting to see what happened next. What was left of the agent, (looking pretty horribly limp,) was tossed into the back seat of his car, and then, so quickly that it seemed to happen in the blink of an eye... Nacero looked just like the other agent. Of course.

"Very nifty," Alex muttered, though his voice didn't sound terribly impressed. "I don't suppose you can pull that trick with the rest of us too, huh?" Again Nacero didn't particularly pay attention to him - just head out across the street, this time not even gesturing for us to follow... or to stay put, for that matter. In the absence of any indicator, I chose to stick relatively close to the enigmatic alien outsider... after all, there had to be some reason that he'd brought all of us along, hadn't there?? He'd said 'chores for everybody' -- but hadn't asked any of us to do that. And why was the phrase so familiar?? Suddenly I realized that it was something that Buffy the vampire slayer had said in the season finale last year... right before leading the graduating seniors to their commencement ceremony armed with pole axes and crossbows, and blowing up the school... that was the sequence that the network had pushed back until July because they were worried about somebody pulling a copycat stunt at their own graduation. Right...

So I followed Nacero as he started to take a footpath between two houses, that would lead through to a position opposite the special unit building I realized - an approach that might be low-key enough that the guards wouldn't be expecting it, anticipating that we'd arrive on a road or along a more typical sidewalk. Just as I crossed the sidewalk and was about to step on the footpath myself, I realized that another guy who looked like he could be a special unit agent was approaching from down the street, opposite to the way that we'd come. Great - was the whole neighborhood lousy with them? What could we do?

But I hurried along, and by the time we got out to the other end of the footpath, it was clear that if Nacero and the rest of us were the cavalry, we weren't showing up any too early for our cue. Isabel was glaring at another agent as his body was slammed by an invisible fist into the wall of one of the houses the footpath wound past here, the impact rattling siding again and again. I guessed that Isabel was the one who was punishing him. All four of them were here - but Liz was semi-unconscious, Michael's face showed incredible pain, Isabel was in the midst of an exhausted fury, and Max looked... worried more than anything, even after his face brightened a bit from spotting Alex and me. Another special unit agent was running up and trying to throw a net around Max or Liz, and Max charged him with a yell, punching the guy in the chin and then trying to drive his knee between the man's legs. Why was Max fighting back physically instead of using his powers? Was that part of why he looked so afraid?

Just then, I was distracted by a cry of 'No!' from Alex. Isabel had turned, noticed Nacero... and immediately taken him at face value, as another enemy agent, even though we were running behind him.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Don't hurt him, it's... it's the visitor." Not sure why I used the english euphemism instead of the Nacero translation, (which has almost assumed the status of a proper name,) but Isabel caught the point. She still glared at the figure a little suspiciously, (not too surprising, between getting stabbed, and the fact that he'd refused to help them retrieve Liz beforehand,) but held her fire.

Suddenly several things happened at once. A gunshot rang out, and Michael fell forward -- with limitless horror I realized that he'd been shot in the lower back... a wound that probably wasn't immediately fatal, but messy, and he'd be losing blood quick... either inside or outside. Liz straightened up a little and looked around, just in time to see the guy Max had been beating on pull out a small black canister and spray him in the face... Max and Liz screamed nearly in unison. And Isabel shuddered in resignation as something that I couldn't see hit her hard. Something painful, and suddenly she was very scared and worried too. She looked back and forth, saw that the others were in trouble too, and swallowed.

Then she brought out the alien orb, and quickly enough that I couldn't say anything first, (though I'm not sure what I'd have wanted to say,) she tossed it underhand to Nacero. He caught it carefully and competently, and just a fraction of a second before his fingers closed around the small, heavy thing, an unseen, irresistable force knocked Isabel to the ground.

And then, suddenly, the situation changed completely. When Nacero started to use his powers, I'm convinced that for an instant I could perceive the forces he was using directly, even though I'm only human. (Hmm... wonder if I'd have an outside chance of learning psionics??) I couldn't tell what he was trying to do like that, but I could feel the energy as it flowed.

The real special agents in sight, the one who had pepper-sprayed Max, the one who had shot Michael, and one across the street who hadn't really done anything yet, all groaned and fell down, lying perfectly still where they hit whatever they hit. (The one that Isabel had been pounding on was already down for the count I think.) Isabel got up, and she looked very relieved, almost happy at something that wasn't just Nacero taking out the agents. She went to check on Max and Liz, while I pulled Nacero towards Michael. "He's hurt. Can you help him?"

The wound wasn't as bad as it had looked at first -- more glancing, more superficial, though there was still an awful lot of nasty stuff showing, and blood oozing and leaking over everything. It got a little better as Nacero looked disinterestedly at the gunshot, closing up partially, but no more. Was this the best that he could do? Or was he still ambivalent, wanting Michael to suffer, like Isabel had suffered? Well... if he didn't let Michael die, then that was the most important thing. Actually, for none of us to die was the most important thing, and though Nacero seemed to have salvaged the situation for now, we were still all in a very dangerous place, and relying on him to keep us all safe here seemed like a bad idea.

The others seemed to have come to the same conclusion... Alex came over to help me support Michael, and Tess was leading Isabel, Max, and Liz back the way that we had come. "Wait a second, the jeep," Isabel mumbled.

"Forget it," Alex advised. "We've got enough cars to take everybody." After a second, Isabel reluctantly accepted that advice. Kathleen and Tony seemed to be bemused at how quickly things were happening, but they followed along too. "Where do we go?" Alex asked.

On that, surprisingly enough, I had a few ideas. "We stay together and we leave Roswell. Umm... back to the Mesaliko reservation, if River Dog will take us in??"

"Yeah, sounds decent," Michael muttered, which surprised me - in that I hadn't realized that he was awake or able to speak. Very pleased, though.

"What about you?" Isabel asked, staring very pointedly at Nacero, as if hoping that the intensity of her gaze could penetrate the disconnectedness that he sometimes drew about him like a cloak. "Are you coming with us?"

He looked very clearly back at her. "I wouldn't miss what happens next for all the tea in India."

"Umm... okay," Max muttered. Like Isabel and me, he didn't seem to be sure what to make of that. "Maybe we can chat about orbs, too."

----------

MICHAEL:

"Okay, just trying to keep things straight," I heard a woman's voice saying. A familiar voice. "The orb that Isabel threw him... that's orb two, right? The one that I brought to town, and gave you when you got me to River Dog's cave?"

"Yep," Maria replied. I guess the first voice must have been Kathleen's. "That's the one he hasn't been able to get his hands on, for over fifty years. Somehow I suspect that if he had, there wouldn't have been much of a Special Unit left."

"Then maybe there won't be one anymore," I muttered, and opened my eyes. I was sitting, (well, parly sitting and partly slumped,) in the rear seat of a fairly large vehicle... something on the border of a minivan and a full-size van. Whose wheels was it? (Or whose wheels were... oh, never mind.) Maria was next to me, and I could see a bit of Topolsky's hair from the next row forward.

"How... how are you feeling?" Maria reached out a hand to touch mine. "You got shot, and that bastard wouldn't heal you all the way."

"Maybe he couldn't," I pointed out in Nacero's defence, though I wasn't terribly worried about defending him at the moment... my back hurt like hell. "Who... who's with us, in this van, and whose van is it?"

"Isabel, Kathleen, Tess, and Tony - it's Tony's van," she explained. "I gave the Jetta keys to Alex... it seemed better to get you in here, and I - I just couldn't l..."

"Yeah, that's okay," I assured her, more than a little touched that she had chosen to stay by my side. "How are Max and Isabel?"

"Max is doing fine, as far as I can tell," Tess' voice called back. I wasn't sure if Tess could see him in the Jetta out a car window, or if she was drawing on her powers to sense his mind, but I was glad for the reassurance. He hadn't looked very good when I last saw him, after that SOB gave him a snootful of mace or whatever.

"And I'm feeling much better," Isabel said from right behind me, and that really made me smile. Isabel might not have gotten much dramatic punishment during the raid and its aftermath the way that Max and I had, but she'd possibly been bearing up under the most torturous conditions... straining and struggling to protect us all, especially from whatever nonphysical attacks the psionics of the special unit had been able to cook up. Even with the orb, she'd been straining her powers, and I was really really glad that she wasn't lying there in a cocoon, the way I was after going into the sweat lodge, or anything like that.

"Did... did something happen to Max's powers?" Maria blurted out. "I... I noticed that he didn't seem to be using them... that's one reason I didn't insist that he take a look at Michael before we left."

"Yeah, he... we don't know all the details," I mumbled. "When he touched Liz for the first time, they just kind of went away. He thinks that it won't be permanent or anything. Um, Tony, Tess? Do you guys have any idea what that could have been about? We think it's something that Pierce managed to arrange."

"Wow," Tess muttered. "No, that's a new one on me."

"I... I'm not sure," Tony muttered. "Reminds me vaguely of something that Evelyn once said, but... but I can't remember anything more about it than that vague sense of familiarity. Sorry."

"Hmm." I muttered. Too bad that the real Mrs Harding was still presumably locked up in Special Unit detention quarters in Albuquerque... and considering that Liz had been freed and the Hardings were still helping us, Pierce's remaining hostage was seemingly in more real danger. But we couldn't really worry about that right now. "Umm, any sign of pursuit by the way?"

"Nope," Tony reported.

"Probably whatever our alien friend did with the Orb back there, it was enough to make them think twice about an immediate chase," Topolsky said. "But I'm worried. Tony, would Pierce be able to track the aliens by their minds? Or the orb itself??"

"Umm... I'm not sure," Tony muttered. I felt a little bad for the poor guy, he was completely out of his depth with this stuff, especially considering that he didn't have any psi potential of his own. "Detection and avoidance between human psis can be an especially complicated thing... generally the more skilled psi can hide or find as they choose, though raw power can help a bit too. Our guys have power to spare, but the three of them are still lagging behind a bit in terms of skills, and I'm not sure about the wild card."

"As far as the orb, it doesn't radiate anything directly," Isabel said. "I'm pretty sure of that... not when it isn't being used offensively at least."

I sighed. We'd got Liz back, but very little else had been resolved - and there were a few other questions to worry about now. Would Max really get his powers back? Would my back be okay where I got shot? And Liz... considering that Pierce had been able to 'booby trap' her for Max, were there other surprises lurking deep inside her mind? I hated to even think of the possibility... but being ignorant of the idea that she might be a sleeper, mentally conditioned to act as Pierce's pawn at the worst possible moment for us, would only be turning our backs on the possibility of danger.

"Say," I asked Isabel. "Why did you and Alex split up, anyway? In different cars, I mean."

I couldn't see Isabel's face, but I could tell that she was blushing something fierce... part of these alien senses I guess. "It... it just happened that way. Max was trying to get Liz sitting down as soon as he could, and Nacero went for that car too. It made sense to have an alien who was able to use their powers in each car, and Alex was the best choice for the Jetta driver since Maria was staying with you." Isabel shrugged. "Just the way things go."

All right. "How far have we come already?"

"Maybe fifteen miles," Maria guessed, and I blinked in surprise at that. "Yeah, you were kinduv out of it babe," she reminded me. "That puts us, what, about halfway to the cave?"

"Not quite I think," Kathleen ventured. "But a little over forty percent."

"Whatever," Maria said, and giggled.

"What's so funny?" Kathleen demanded.

"Oh, just... maybe if you know your fractions better than your plane geometry, Liz wouldn't have gotten suspicious that first day you subbed as a geometry teacher. If we'd been covering percentages, that is."

"That's kind of basic for sophomore math, isn't it?" Isabel asked in a superior way.

"Ehh," I mumbled, because Maria had put me on what I felt was a more interesting track. "What was the deal with the substitute teaching those first few days, anyway?" I asked Kathleen. "Was it all part of the plan?"

"Umm, not as far as I knew," Kathleen admitted. "My cover identity was as the guidance counselor from the beginning, but the first time I met your principal, he had three crises to deal with, one of which was a math teacher out sick and no-one available to cover. I offered to give it a try, as a way to earn some good graces with him. Agent Stevens might have made sure that he got sick, to give me an opportunity to meet some of you right away... I tried to ask him about that once, but he refused to say. And of course, now he's dead, so he never will tell."

"So... so Stevens was your superior officer, or whatever? The one who assigned you to Roswell?"

"Yep," Kathleen agreed. "Pulled me halfway across the country and out of a desk job, though I'd done one field assignment before. Because I'd had some teachers college before the bureau, was rated high for loyalty creative problem solving and so on. And, as you can imagine... finding out that it was aliens I was hunting was quite an eye opener. I mean, actual alien aliens, not Mexicans who didn't have immigration visas."

"Wow," Maria sighed. "Okay, wait, I have a question too. Do you know why Stevens sent you in when he did? Did he really hear about the shooting in the cafe?"

"Yep," Kathleeen ageed. "Valenti brought him a waitress' dress... Liz's uniform I assume - with a bullet hole and an interesting collection of stains."

"And that's why... Oh, hey!" Michael exclaimed. "Stevens - Did he have a big, thick but short-trimmed beard and mustache, nearly black??"

"Umm, yeah," Kathleen agreed. "How... how did you guess that?"

"Saw him once," I said. "I think. Right around the time you showed up... in fact, that was part of the reason I was ditching geometry class." Maria and Isabel chuckled - I guess both of them have realized that I can come up with a nearly endless list of reasons to skip just about any class. "I was staking out Valenti's office, and Stevens and a few other agents took away his files." Isabel made an 'ohh' sound of recognition. Thus had started the sequence of events that led me to steal a mysterious key, that had brought the five of us to a geodesic dome in Marathon, and led Max and Liz to meet River Dog the first time. "So, wait a second. If Stevens was special unit, was he a Psi too?"

"Umm... if he's the John Stevens that I know of, no," Tony Harding said. "Career FBI, someone that Pierce brought aboard because he's very, very good at his job. Whoops, I guess I should say that he WAS good at it." Kathleen whined softly at the reminder. "They butted heads more than a little about Pierce's policies, which probably has to do with the reasons why Pierce had him eliminated."

"But he was 'inside' far enough to know the real Pierce?" Tess asked her father. "Not just the proxy guy that other people know - that debriefed Kathleen, for instance?" I didn't hear Tony's answer - maybe he just nodded.

"Okay, wait a second," I said, reminded of something new. "Kathleen, all those papers from the geodesic dome basement. Were you the one who took them? What happened to them?"

"I led the operation, yeah," she said, sighing. "With some crack professionals... the FBI's own burglars. Stevens took it all away nearly as soon as I had it... I didn't get a chance to see much, and what little I looked at didn't make much sense."

"Oh, well," I sighed.

And there was silence for a long moment as we drove on into Frazier woods.

-----------

The Dog was waiting as we drove up to the cave again... somehow he always seems to know when to show up. Either that, or he hangs out there a lot of the time. A big campfire was burning in the clearing, providing some light other than starlight and moonlight. River Dog greeted Kathleen like she was a long-lost friend - well, I guess they'd spent a lot of time together while she was hiding out here last time, and neither really got a chance to say goodbye. What with one thing and another, all of us ended up sitting outside the cave like we had been on the day that Tess came up to talk to Liz... except that Tess and Tony hadn't been sitting down then. There were still quite a few deck chairs around, sitting folded up inside the cave entrance while nobody had been using them, and when the chairs ran out people just sat on the ground or on flat rocks.

Nacero didn't sit, however. He walked over to Tess... towering over her in a slightly formidable way. "The pool party," he announced, still looking like some special unit agent. Did he forget to take off certain shapes, the same way I forget to take off a dirty t-shirt?

"Umm... whatt?" Tess asked, a little frightened.

"You... you said that you hadn't... not met me before," he mumbled. "You didn't realize it was... but we got well acquainted at the pool party."

"Oh, right," Tess said, realizing what he meant and blushing. I wasn't sure what Nacero had meant about Tess saying that she hadn't met him before, but maybe that had something to do with how come Nacero and the rest of them had happened to come running up just when we needed our asses saved, across the street from the Special Unit building. "Umm... yeah, I don't exactly remember what happened that day terribly well, because of all the drugs in the punch and what have you..." The expression on Mister Harding's face was hard to describe exactly, but I was suddenly certain that he knew quite a lot more than he wanted to about what had happened between Nacero and Tess that day, and he didn't like a bit of it. (If I was in his position, I guess I might not be pleased that my seventeen-year old teenage daughter had been drugged and started making out with a shapeshifting, slightly homicidal alien.) "Why... why did you come that day? Just trying to keep an eye on the other aliens?" Tess asked. "And why disguise yourself as the football player?"

"What happened to the real Casey Irvine anyway?" Alex asked. "You... you didn't kill him or anything?"

"No, I heard him and some of the other guests talking about it the day... umm, the day Izzie got hurt," I said. "He was trying to convince Kyle, Nathan, and Kayla that somebody had hit him on the head and locked him up in his mother's trunk for eight hours until his dad found him there. Kyle replied that he probably just got wasted like everyone else at the party and imagined it all." Maria snickered slightly at that, probably because it was just so completely Kyle-like.

"I... I was there for *you*," Nacero said, looking straight at Tess, and his shape started to change in front of our eyes, morphing and shifting like a compuer effects imaging program. For an instant, he was Casey again, and then tweaked that image slightly, making the hair lighter, the face slightly different - as if Casey had a brother, though I didn't think he did.

"M... m-me?" Tess squeaked, sounding more than a little unnerved at this.

"You... you were inside my head," Nacero mumbled. "Inside all of us, trying to find out our secrets, and you were trafficking with Pierce.

"Not willingly," Tony insisted fiercely, and Nacero smiled silently at him for a moment, as if acknowledging the truth of what he was saying.

"And then you... you invited all six of them, so I wanted to find out why. The athlete seemed like the least likely one to be suspected." Nacero sighed. "I... I lost most of my judgement after drinking - like the rest of you, but I remembered trying to get close to you. Figured it might help me to understand better... understand many things. Like why you let the others in." He turned to sweep his gaze meaningfully over each of us in the original six.

"To understand why we told Alex and Maria what was going on... you started kissing Tess?" Isabel snickered. "That... that's not exactly how it happened."

"She told her friends," Nacero agreed, nodding at Liz and then looking at Isabel. "That didn't mean you had to... to let them into your existence."

I thought about that... but got distracted by Max. "Hey!" he exclaimed, and when I looked over at him, I realized that he was floating a small stone perfectly steady a few feet ahead of where he was sitting. "Michael, buddy, need me to take a look at that back??"

"Umm... yeah, that'd be good, if you're sure you're up for it," I said, but that immediately reminded me of how Max had lost his powers in the first place. "What about..." I looked around and this was the first time I clued in that Liz's eyes were closed, and her head resting at an angle against the back of her folding lawn chair, which I would have thought were impossible to sleep on without falling out of. Apparently she was managing it.

"Fixing up gunshots first," Max said, with a sigh. "Then I... I want to see if there's any way to go inside her head and see if Pierce has messed her up even more."

"Mind... is very delicate, even with our powers," Nacero said softly. "Uncertainty reigns. Only the greatest level of skill allows for even the vaguest perception directly into mind. I'm not sure that you're ready for it."

"Maybe... maybe I can help, with a power that I've had for years," Isabel suggested. "If Liz starts to dream, I can try to go in, and maybe that'll tell us something."

Max smiled. "I'd appreciate it."

"Wait a second," Alex protested. "If there IS something wrong with Liz, do we know that dreamwalking her is safe?" He and Isabel were sitting side by side, she on a rock, he on a stump, and he reached out to take her hand in a very deliberate gesture."

There wasn't any answer, until Maria suggested 'first things first', and I ended up stretched out, stomach down, on the mattress where Kathleen had slept while she was hiding out here, so that Max could see and work on my gunshot. It didn't take too long - he was able to connect with me via touch, since I was awake and willing to let him in, and all of the damage that Nacero had left was cleaned up pretty easily. And that gave me an idea. "Why... why don't you start by touching Liz again?" I asked. "Try to connect with her, see if you can tell whether it'd be safe for Isabel to go in her way. Since you've already been zapped once that way, and you've been touching since, I don't think it's terribly likely that it would hurt you again."

Max smiled. "Alright." It kind of helped that the one person who would be most upset about Max putting himself in danger.... was the one who was out cold and who we were all trying to find out about. Max smiled as he leaned down next to her, touched her hand with his own, took a deep breath, and let it out in slight exasperation - obviously he wasn't making it in. After a second's hesitation, he leaned down and kissed his sleeping beauty - and though she didn't awaken, the smile on Max's face afterwards told me two things. One, even with Liz not responding, he'd appreciated the experience for what it was. Two, he'd managed to get enough flashes from her to find out what he needed to know.

"I... I'm pretty sure that it'll be safe for you to go in and doublecheck me, Isabel," he said confidently. "Pierce... she didn't get as much time as she wanted with Liz before we made our move. If we'd waited for full morning, it would've been another thing entirely." The way he put that startled me again. It was still the middle of the night, as far as I could tell, and I wasn't sure how long before twilight would start to make its appearance again.

But Max was still talking. "Aside from whatever it was that took out my powers - definitely a one-shot booby trap by the way, I think she's done something subtle to Liz's reactions and attitudes, but not nearly as much as she meant to. Laying the groundwork, as much as anything, maybe. Hopefully... if we can get a bead on exactly what changes she made, we won't even need to change them back, just let Liz know and she should be able to sort it out herself."

"That kind of matches up with what I know about conditioning best practice," Tony said softly. "Both in terms of what you think was done, and the remedy." Kathleen was nodding too, though I wasn't sure how much experience she really had with that sort of thing. Then again, she'd probably been conditioned at least a bit by the fake Pierce and other special unit people, because they wanted to make sure that she'd do a good job as bait for us, and she'd managed to shake that off and become free.

"So, the question is, can *I* figure out exactly what changes Pierce made?" Isabel asked, and Max nodded. Izzie looked at Alex, and he smiled bravely. "Okay, well, I think that she's in REM sleep now."

"Yeah, I kinda nudged her that way," Mad admitted. "Since we don't have buckets of time."

"Picture please?" Max seemed surprised by the question, but pulled out his wallet, extracted a tiny little color photograph, and handed it over to Isabel. I went up to take a look, out of curiosity as much as anything. Isabel did her little routine and slumped over, and Alex held her to him protectively. Once Isabel wasn't holding her finger up in front of it, I could see that the picture was one of those photobooth ones... and something about it made me think that it was taken last winter. Probably sometime in that little stretch of time that Max and Liz were a couple after the heatwave, and before -- before I snuck into a sweatlodge here on the Indian reservation, probably just two or three miles down the road from this cave, and nearly died from it. Once the group had saved my life, Max had decided that he had to stop seeing Liz. The more doofus he. (Though I suppose I was calling the kettle black, considering how many ways I'd found to drag my feet and mess things up with Maria before realizing that I really did want to be with her.)

But I hadn't realized that they'd gone hanging out somewhere that there'd be photo booths. Then again... yeah, maybe it had been, umm. Well, it didn't really matter. Cute pic, though, anyway, with Liz trying to make a silly face and not really showing much imagination with it.

The tension started to get thick, as Isabel and Liz both slept on, (or nearly: I know that Isabel isn't actually asleep when she's dream walking, but it looks very close.) "Alright," Max announced. "Once Liz is attended to - what's our next step vis-a-vis the special unit? I have to admit, I really haven't been thinking any further ahead than getting Liz back ever since we found out she was taken... but Pierce is obviously not going to leave it at that. She's going to try anything she can to come after us all now, I think, especially if she was scared at what we just showed her." There was an awkward silence. "Nacero. You and the second orb, the 'power orb' I guess we can call it - between the two of you you seem to make up a pretty decent secret weapon? What can the two of you do together?"

"Might... might be a shorter list to ask what I can't do with this," Nacero muttered, looking at the orb in his hand and weighing it appreciatively, "though not by that much."

"Tricky problem," Alex agreed. "How to represent the division of a very large set into nearly equal halves." Tony and Kathleen laughed under their breath, but I didn't see what the joke was.

"Pierce," Max clarified. "The special unit. Can you..." he hesitated, and swallowed. "Can you 'take care' of them with that??"

Nacero's new face twisted slightly into an unusual pensive cast. "Most of the... the people with powers in the special unit--"

"Psionics," Tess supplied helpfully.

"They can't stand in my way, with the power of the orb. But Pierce herself is tricky. She might be able to figure out a defense... and if she does, she can escape and teach it to others."

"So it's a bit of a stalemate," I said. "Pierce won't leave Roswell... she wants us to come after her with the Orb, so that she can disarm it. We want to take her out... but we can't try until our offensive is perfect."

"Umm.. yeah, I guess so," Tess sighed. "I just wish that all of this was over." There were a lot of agreeing sounds to this remark.

"Okay, another big ugly question that no-one really wants to hear," I said. "If... if it comes down to it - how many, if any, people at the Special Unit are we willing to kill to beat them? Pierce for instance. Do we fry the bitch??"

"I'd be hard-pressed to say that we shouldn't," Max said softly. "She started this war against us. In a way, it would be a killing in self-defense."

"But will that really defend any of us?" Alex asked softly. "If we kill Pierce, that won't eliminate the Special Unit. If it's national or even world wide, then she's sure to have trained a successor, someone far enough away from Roswell that we'd hardly even be able to find him or her. And that successor will be determined to hunt you guys down even more, considering that you killed his predecessor."

"Yeah, it won't solve anything immediately," Maria argued. "But... but maybe there'd be a way to convince someone else that all you guys want is to live and let live, and that they'd really be best off to negotiate a truce." She sighed. "I really don't think, from what you've said about Pierce, that she's rational enough for that."

"Maybe it would be better to--" I started, but was sudenly startled out of what I was saying by a loud gasp from Isabel. For an instant I was terrified, but then remembered that the one time she'd dreamwalked anyone in front of me, (she'd agreed to spy on the junior high principal's dreams in the hopes of finding something that I could use to play a payback prank on him... but that's a long story,) she'd breathed loudly just when she was coming out of it that time too. Maybe it was just something about crossing the barrier from a dream world back into reality. Max and Maria hurried over to her, and I wandered close too. Alex wrapped his arms around Isabel again.

"I... I think that Liz will be okay, Max," she choked out quickly. "Like you said, a few attitude shifts that will probably be confusing for her and a little difficult to work through while the crisis is still upon us, but nothing that she won't be able to sort out given time." Isabel breathed deeply again. "Until then, she should probably stay up here, with River dog and Kathleen to look after her, if that's okay with them." Max nodded uncomfortably - he didn't look pleased that she thought this sort of precaution was important, but it was hard to argue against it.

"But what I saw in her dream about Pierce... we need to get her, Max," she continued, completely unaware that we'd been talking about that very thing before she woke up. "We need to get her good, before she finds a way to get us, something that even Nacero's talents and the power of the Orb can't stop. She's still freaky powerful and... and chillingly smart." Isabel shuddered. "But I think I might know a way to... the end of a plan, anyway. We just need to work out the beginning and the middle of it."

"Is the end of the plan, 'Step 3: profit?'" Alex asked her. Isabel looked up, her brown eyes staring blankly into his face. "Sorry... probably the wrong time for a South Park joke."

"Yeah," I agreed sadly. "Okay, let's get to it!"

---------

(Objective.)

James Valenti sighed as he parked in the driveway. "Who'd a thunk it?" He could hardly believe how much things had changed in the last twelve hours or so. The mysteries about Roswell had been mounting for months... mysteries that Jim had been convinced had aliens at the bottom of them. An alien who went to the high school named Max Evans, for one. And, even through his suspicions, Jim had slowly grown sympathetic to Max and to some of his friends... starting to put himself in what he guessed their shoes were like... believing that Max was not some inhuman monster with a dastardly plan to take over the earth, but a truly scared kid of whatever species or planetary origin, not sure who to trust or what the shifting forces around him truly meant.

And Jim had tried to reach out to Max, tried to look out for him, even if Max and his friends wouldn't trust 'the law.' But his perspectives had been turned onto their side when she walked into his office. Agent Pierce. Definitely not what Jim had expected - for instance, he'd been pretty certain that Pierce was a man. Even before Kathleen Topolsky had told him her story of being inducted into the Special Unit, Jim had heard vague stories of a Daniel Pierce, a man highly placed in the FBI alien hunting division. And Miss Pierce had definitely not taken long to convince him that Daniel was an imaginary man that she had constructed, that she was in control of the Special Unit, and in charge of considerably more than alien hunting. Convincing Valenti to sincerely work on her behalf had been a longer thing, but Danielle had not seemed to lack confidence in her persuasive powers. In addition to the inducements of information and influence that she'd been able to offer, there was a charisma, a presence to her that Valenti had somehow been very ill equipped to resist.

After that... well, first, there was Kathleen showing up out of the blue at his office, which had been a surprise... and quite likely a gambit of some sort. He'd meant to call Danielle and let her know about it, but Hanson managed to beat him too it... young and enthusiastic, Timothy Hanson was often too quick off the starter blocks, but apparently he hadn't jumped the gun this time. And then, the message that Max and his friends had forcibly broken into Danielle's office... and had gotten away with something important that she couldn't tell him about yet. That seemed almost unbelievable... that three teenaged kids, even with Max's alien powers, had been able to defy the resources the Special Unit had at its disposal so cavalierly, but the security footage had been hard to argue with. It had also seemed to indicate that there was more than one person in the party with unearthly powers... possibly both Isabel, Max's sister, and Michael, their long-time best friend. Valenti had done a little quick telephone research, and was nearly kicking himself for not connecting the dots earlier. All three of them shared mysterious orphan origin stories, after all, and apparently there had been an unusual incident at Michael Guerin's foster home when he was very young.

Sighing, he got out of the car, headed up the walk, and through the front door. When he got inside the house, he realized that Kyle was sitting, half-lying, actually, on the couch, watching something on the television, with a worried and tired expression on his face. "Hey, son," Jim said, stepping into the living room.

Kyle looked up at him immediately. "Busy night?"

"Umm, yeah, actaully."

"Did... did something bad happen?" Kyle blurted out. For a long moment, Jim was entirely not sure how to reply to that question, and to buy time, he wandered slowly into the room and sat down in the small spot on the couch that wasn't taken up by Kyle's awkward recline. Kyle quickly sat up straighter. He looked at the television and decided that it seemed to be playing one of those really low-budget teenage sitcoms, with most of the characters being players or hangers-on of a varsity sports team.

"Umm... yeah, actually, there was, but I'm not sure how much I can tell you about it yet." The image of a Special unit field support agent getting loaded onto a stretcher flashed before his eyes. When Jim had asked, he'd been told that the man's back had been violently broken by alien powers. He would probably never walk again - his only hope for a normal life again was if the Special Unit psychic healers could strain the limits of what they knew how to accomplish. Jim had been about to call a city Ambulance, but they hadn't wanted to call that much attention to the disturbance. 'We have enough facilities to treat the worst of our wounded right here,' Pierce had told him.

"It... it didn't have anything to do with Liz, did it?" Kyle blurted out, rousing Jim from his musings. "What you had to deal with?"

Jim looked up, startled. Pierce hadn't said a word to him about Liz Parker. "No, at least, I don't think so." He leveled an intent, curious look at his only child. "Why do you mention Liz?"

"I... I dunno, it was like I had a bad dream about her," Kyle mumbled, apparently slightly embarassed to say such a thing, but not nearly shy enough that he had delayed with his answer. "That's why I'm up so late, actually." Jim had hardly even realized that it was several hours after Kyle's usual bedtime. "A dream that... that she was locked up somewhere, maybe in a jail cell. That's why I thought to ask you about her. And... and not just locked up, but there was a woman who came into the room..." Kyle's eyes closed as he concentrated for a moment.

"She had greenish eyes, green with a slight hint of brown to them, but not enough to call hazel... very intense eyes that almost looked through me, even though I wasn't there. Short, dark blonde hair, and a pretty face... a little older than Mom was when she left." Jim's breath caught at that particular comparison. "Liz was very afraid of the woman."

Jim felt as if the room was suddenly spinning around him. The description was Dani Pierce, nearly dead on. And if she had taken custody of Liz Parker for some reason, why should she have hidden that from him? He wasn't sure what to make of Pierce's motives in this, but one thing was clear. Kyle still liked Liz, and was very worried about her.

He stood up from the couch. "Dad?? Dad, why did you get up?"

For a long moment Jim wasn't sure himself. And then the answer came to him.

"I need to call the Parkers, and ask them something."

"But it's the middle of the night, Dad. Are... are you saying that you think that Liz is actually missing?"

He couldn't answer that one yet. He just had to make the call, even though it was something that part of his mind really didn't want to do.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	21. Part 6b

MAX:

"Okay, how about this," I muttered, holding an arm a little bit in front of me and shaking my hand as if I could force the rest of the idea that was lodged in my brain out that way. "We... we really want to get Pierce to go on the move, to chase us. We'll have much better luck that way than if she's just sitting pat, waiting for us, especially if we can put Isabel's idea into action."

"Right," Michael said, nodding and frowning slightly into the campfire, as if he wasn't sure where I was going with this. I wasn't quite certain either -- yet.

"Okay... well, she's not going to come after us while we're not doing anything, and she's probably too canny to get taken in by any lure or pretense of weakness we might try." Isabel nodded somberly. "So... what if we try to attack the Special Unit in an unexpected way... try to hurt someone, or take something, that's not in Roswell?"

"Umm... like what, Max?" Alex prompted, also seeming a little puzzled.

"Like breaking into the FBI headquarters in Santa Fe."

There was a hushed silence, which, predictably, Tess was the one to break. "My... my mom? You're going to rescue her?"

"Yeah, but it's not just about her," I told her softly. "Pierce probably has a lot of other agents there in Santa Fe... not only guarding your mom, but standing by in case the mission here in Roswell needs reinforcement. I think we can probably find a way to nullify those backup troops without killing them. Between that and taking Evelyn back, who probably knows more about the Special Unit than anyone else who might help us... once Pierce realizes what we're trying to do, she'll come tearing out after us."

"Good," Tony said. "But maybe she shouldn't clue in too soon... she's faster than you, after all."

I thought about that. If this was just to be a feint, then it didn't matter if Pierce caught us before we got to Santa Fe... as long as we could make sure she caught us at the right kind of place. But Tony's hopes had been raised by the mention of getting his wife out... I could understand that, in a way that I wouldn't have been able to before Liz got snatched. He wanted us to spring her before Pierce got at us - just in case we couldn't later, either from being captured ourselves, or because some angry henchling found out that Piece was dead, realized the jig was up, and killed the hostage.

And... it made sense anyway. Evelyn's information still might be a good asset, even if we went with Isabel's plan, and taking care of the reinforcements was a good way of covering our asses. I suddenly realized that I knew how to put somebody into a coma that would resist any attempts at rousing them, except those keyed to my own power signature. I'd make sure that they'd all wake up in about three days, to make sure nobody died of thirst, but Pierce couldn't be sure of that. (Too bad it wouldn't accomplish anything to put Pierce in a coma, even if I could. Or... hmm...) "Okay, so how do we keep her from clueing in too soon?"

Tess was jumping in before I'd finished answering the question. "As long as we don't head straight for Santa Fe directly, we can approach it without her realizing exactly what's up. Maybe she'll just think that we're trying to draw her out of Roswell by moving away - then she'd be more likely to stay put. And at least we're already north of town - that's better than having to circle around Roswell."

"We can go back to the motel first," Michael suggested. "That wouldn't make her suspicious at all... well, not suspicious of the right things at least. And then maybe zag off to the northeast, making it look like we're trying to back away from Roswell even more and get to the state line. Then, all of a sudden - in we swoop."

"Okay, yeah, that sounds good," I agreed. "Let's roll for Kathleen's motel first. We can plan the rest once we get there." I hurried over to Liz, who had woken up while we were talking. "Hey, darling. How... how do you feel?" I wanted to wrap her in my arms, but a little voice inside my head told me not to. Isabel said that Pierce had tampered with Liz's beliefs and attitudes - just a little, and she'd be able to sort it all out herself given time - but these were hardly ideal circumstances for putting things to the test.

She looked up into my eyes. "Max... Max, you saved me!" She either expected a response or saw something disappointing in my eyes. "Err - didn't you?"

"We got you out of Pierce's building, yeah," I agreed, smiling. "What about..."

"I was so stupid," Liz blurted out, throwing herself at me and her arms around my neck. "I... I should have known better than to come to Evelyn - to Pierce alone, but I didn't listen to myself, and..."

"Sssh, it's not your fault," I insisted. "She - she was manipulating you, biasing your judgement just a little bit, to make sure that you'd make those mistakes. We don't need to speak about it now." Liz felt warm and soft and comfortable next to me, and I wanted so badly to forget caution. But it wasn't that easy. "How... how do you feel, in your mind? We think that Pierce had a chance to..."

"To use me against you?" Liz's mouth dropped open. "Oh, no - I remember part of it. Something... something awful already happened, didn't it?" I couldn't answer for a moment. "When we first touched there, outside my cell."

"Yes. We think Pierce was able to use you to cancel out my powers, as a one time thing." Liz whimpered slightly. "But they're back now, and we escaped. Everybody's safe for now." Another whimper/sob, but one that was more relief than worry somehow. "I - I was talking about something more psychological, though."

"Hmm..." Liz considered that. "I... I don't know. I don't dislike you guys, or feel any fear of you. I don't suddenly like Pierce - I really hate her, in point of fact. What else could she do to my mind, that I couldn't sense right away?"

I looked over at Isabel, who shrugged. "I... I'm not sure."

"Maybe it's the hate that Pierce touched," Alex suggested. "I mean... it's understandable that you'd hate her after what you've been through... but being hateful can lead to making mistakes. Maybe that's what she's counting on."

"Ehhh... I don't want to think about it right now." Again she must have read something in my face. "Yeah, Max, I realize that I'm going to need to work it through soon, that I can't hide from this forever like an ostritch with my head in the sand. Just let me put it off for about ten minutes?" I shrugged. "Weren't you saying something about going to a motel?"

"Yeah - the same motel we left Topolsky at," I told her. "Want to ride in the back of the Harding's van with me?"

"Yes, definitely," she said, reaching up and touching my face, with a smile.

----------

"I'm still worried about what we do after settling with Pierce," Alex muttered as we got back onto the main road. "Even if you can build a perfect defense against anyone but her using the Orbs... what will it be like living for years under a defensive bubble, always having to keep that up in case some special unit nut tries to take a run at you again."

"We won't," Isabel muttered softly. "One way or another, we're going to take our lives back from them. Forge some kind of lasting peace with them... or at least an enduring truce."

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed, though it was hard to say how. And which was less threatening, actually - just sitting back, ready to defend ourselves, as long as we weren't really being attacked... or pursuing the other guys, determined to make them 'sue us for peace?' It was hard to be sure of anything.

Well... it was easy to be sure of some things... like how glad I was to be back beside Liz at this point, and know that Pierce hadn't twisted her mind enough to make her hate me or be afraid of me. But that didn't really help us out in dealing with Pierce... or did it? If it did, I couldn't see how.

"Maybe Evelyn will be able to help with that angle," Tony said from behind the driver's seat. "Finding a way to get whoever's next in line at the unit to just leave us all alone." All five of us were in his van, plus Tess of course, which left Maria and Michael, Nasedo and Kathleen in the Jetta. I still felt upset at having left my Jeep about a block away from Pierce's place - but we'd had other worries at the time than making sure to pick it up.

"I... I don't want to talk about all this special unit stuff," Tess blurted out. "We'll have enough time to worry about that. I - I want to try to talk about something happier."

I laughed a bit at that... but she had a point. "Okay - how about you ask us something? We probably have a lot of stories that you haven't heard yet."

"Umm... okay Max. What... what's your favorite memory from the year that you were nine years old??"

I blinked - had expected Tess to ask about something more recent - something from after all of us had startd getting to know each other. "Well, umm..." I thought about that. "Hmm... it's tough, because I can think of a bunch of fun things. Going on a road trip with my family that summer... Dad got several weeks off work, and he and Mom rented one of those trailer campers, you know?? Like an RV, but not really a vehicle that moves under its own power, just a mobile home that you can hook up to your car."

"Yeah, Max, we're familiar with the concept," Alex said, but he was gently teasing me.

"Okay, anyway." I was feeling lucky that I could even remember back to when I was nine, considering all of the stress of this situation. "Also my Dad took me out fishing at this river point a little past Artesia... but somehow the memory that sticks out most in my mind... doesn't have anything to do with my family or anything." Isabel made a 'hmmph' sound of protest. "Sorry. That was the year that we got a couple of really cool computers in our classroom at school, with educational games that were really fun - like European royalty, where you were trying to survive in a post-renaissance court, scheming against other court advisors, and if you got to be the king or queen's trusted confidante, then you had to compete with the other kingdoms." He sighed. "It's odd how that sticks out as my favorite thing... it wasn't just that one game, though that's the one I remember most clearly."

"Well, that's not too bad or embarassing I think," Liz said, smiling over at me. "So you're a bit of a computer dork. Color me shocked." I laughed at that.

"Well, it's your turn now," Isabel told me. "Ask one of us something, maybe."

Hmm... well, maybe. Of course, I knew a lot about Isabel, and quite a fair bit about Liz, and I didn't want to turn things back around on Tess just now. "Umm, how about you Mister Harding - can you play while you're driving?" I asked.

"Yes, I can," Tony replied. "Does that count as Max's turn??"

All of the girls started giggling entirely at once, which started Alex chuckling. "No, it was a point of information, not a point of policy, or something like that."

"Point of policy??" Tess asked dubiously.

"Model UN thing, or sounds something like that," Liz explained. "Okay, Max, come on. Ask your real question."

Umm. "What happened on your last overseas mission, Mister Harding??" Tess said that he used to be Green Beret, after all - I was curious what his response to this would be like.

"Umm... I'm not really supposed to talk about that," Harding replied, which I had more than half expected, and I tried to think of another question. "But I guess I have no choice now." Tess giggled, and I realized that he was playing along, pretending that this game was far more binding that any of us thought it was. "Alright, so it was down in the mid-east, maybe four years ago. The target was an Iranian bio-weapons lab, that our intel said was trying to develop a bug that could safely be carried by Arab hosts, but would be deadly to most of the Israeli population."

"Whoa," Isabel breathed. "I thought even the best biotech in the world was decades away from that kind of selectivity."

"You'd be surprised," Tony replied darkly. "Especially when you've got trained psis working on genetic alterations." Oh, boy... yet another development that I hadn't even thought of, though at least this one didn't seem to relate directly to our own predicament. However, if people like Pierce are involved in ethnic warfare in other places on the planet, would they ever really just forget about us and leave us alone?

The story was suitably tense, dramatic, and harrowing, and then Tony asked Alex about his hobbies, and Alex asked Liz about some prank that had been played on Maria when they were eleven, (Liz confessed to having done the deed,) and Liz asked Isabel if Iz had ever tried to dreamwalk her. Isabel shot back to Tess with a question about when she had first realized that she had paranormal powers, and Tess asked Liz about her first kiss with me, and then Liz said that she didn't really want to ask any more questions, and the whole thing kind of died there. For a little while, we just kept driving on.

"Okay, then we need some anywhere but here," Isabel suggested. "Umm... start with you, brother dear."

I smiled slightly. Usually when Isabel tried to drag me into this game I didn't play along very enthusiastically, but today I was definitely in a mood for the fundamental conceit of it. "Okay, if I could be anywhere but here... let's see." A look out at the somewhat forbidding desert scenery beyond the car gave me my cue. "I'd like to be someplace green and full of growing things. Maybe up in the midwest or something... it's probaby a nice day in Minnesota today, with spring just turning into summer. A field or pasture somewhere, having a picnic."

"Pastures and fields usually have owners who aren't too wild about picnickers," Tess put in.

"And pastures have stuff that you do *NOT* want to step in," Alex chimed along.

"C'mon guys," Liz argued. "'Anywhere but here' is a fantasy game. Crotchety farmers and cow pies have no place in it - unless Max says so, that is." She turned, and I was wondering if she was going to ask whether I *wanted* a crotchety farmer and some cow pies, but that wasn't what was on her mind. "Is anybody else coming along on your picnic?"

"Well, it's a pretty depressing picnic unless you have company, in my opinion," I told her with a smile. "Yes... you're there with me - hope you enjoy the scenery." Liz smiled and giggled. "And... and I think that's all. No offense to anyone who wasn't included, but that's all I really want right now. 'A loaf of bread, a jug of... cherry cola, and thou, beneath the leafy bough.'"

"Isn't there a third thing in that verse?" Isabel asked. "I mean, before 'thou', which makes four." I grunted in annoyance at the nitpicking.

"I think it's lovely like that, and who cares what somebody else said," Liz shot back.

"Alright, somebody else's turn," I prompted. "How about you, Alex??"

"Hmm... let me see..." He looked over at Isabel, grinned, then sank into thought for a moment.

But Alex didn't tell us his 'anywhere but there' right then, because Isabel's cell phone rang right then - it was Maria in the other car, saying that Nacero wanted to talk to us. I put my ear close to Isabel's head, which required some awkward positioning in the vehicle, and reflected that this conversation was likely to be even more weird. Nacero's grasp of language might be getting better, but somehow I had the feeling that he still wouldn't be great with a cell phone. "Hello?" Isabel asked.

"There's... there's a disturbance, a ripple in the possible futures," Nacero muttered.

"Possible futures?" I asked. "Buddy - can you see forward in time??"

There was a long pause at this. "Not see - but think." Was he talking about another alien power or not? "You do it too - you think about what might be possible in the future, and adjust your plans accordingly. I've seen you do it."

"Oh," Isabel replied. "Anticipation - prediction. You're right, we do do that." She sighed. "So what kind of disturbance do you predict?"

"I... I'm not sure," Nacero muttered. "Can't... can't quite fit a concept, just anticipating that something's not quite right."

"A premonition?" I asked. "A vague feeling of foreboding that's not about any one specific worry?" Nacero made a kind of a grunting sound. "Okay, any idea what we can do to best avoid the disturbance? Do we not head off towards the motel?"

"No, no!" he exclaimed. "Can... can we leave the main trunk earlier??"

"Oh," I suddenly realized. Yes, we could leave route 285 almost immediately - there was a possible turnoff coming very soon, if we were where I thought we were, and it was probably something that I should have thought of myself. As long as we were on the main road, it wasn't obvious that we were heading for the motel, even though that was the fastest way to get there, and assuming that Pierce was tracking us, she'd be thinking about where else we might be heading - Albuquerque or Santa Fe, possibly. "Turn off on country road 12," I called out to Mister Harding. "Left." Turning back to the phone, I said, "Thanks, man. Can you give the phone to, umm, to Michael?"

After a few moments, Michael came on, and I told him about the change in plans. The Jetta was behind us, it turned out, and we were all able to make the turn onto the rough county road. We couldn't make as much speed here, and the ride was bumpy even at thirty-five, but it was still better than getting Pierce worried. Either she'd tumble too soon to Santa Fe as our ultimate destination that way, or... what if she thought we were heading for the big airport?? Or... well, there were all kinds of interesting things that we MIGHT do in the nearest big city, and I couldn't take the time to think about all of them.

I don't remember that much about the drive on the little county roads to reach the motel. Maybe I was drowsing in the car a bit - I'd gotten back to the seat next to Liz once all the stuff with the cell phone call had finished. It was pretty clear that I wasn't the only one who was tired, and Pierce probably wouldn't worry about us as long as she knew we were staying put, so we got a whole bunch of rooms to catch up on sleep, even though the sky was finally brightening and dawn probably wasn't far off. Liz and I ended up sitting next to each other on a double bed so soft it was sinking beneath Liz's weight, (and Liz isn't a terribly heavy person - it was sinking even more for me.) "How... how do you feel?" I asked her softly.

"Umm... pretty much okay I think," she said softly. "Not very tired - maybe because I got a good nap when you guys were breaking me out and so on."

"Yeah, but everything you've been through has been a shock to your system, probably," I remarked. "Would be good to lie down and rest at least, and maybe you'll find yourself drifting off to sleep."

"Alright." She sighed. "Max... I don't know what you were expecting, but can you hold my hand while we sleep? I don't think it's going to hurt you this time."

"You don't have to keep saying that," I told her. "And yes, I will touch you whenever and wherever you ask." Liz giggled. I'd actually wondered about wrapping my arms about Liz as we lay down, but if she'd wanted that she'd probably have asked for it, and I wasn't going to push into any kind of intimacy that Liz didn't feel ready for. But as I touched her hand, something seemed to happen. That sense of Liz's presence, the thing that I had been tracking when we were trying to find her, before we knew that she'd been lured into captivity by Pierce... for the first time I could sense that presence right next to me, touching me. About as safe as it/she could possibly be under the tense circumstances. I remember that that sensation made me smile broadly, and then nothing else but... well, but waking up a little after one PM in the motel room, with Liz lying on her side, facing me, her eyes closed and her chest moving ever so slightly with her soft breathing.

I stayed there like that, just watching her and holding her fingers with mine, until Maria came over and said that it was probably time we should get on the move again, or at least get up and talk about the timing. When the group had gathered again, there were definite changes. Isabel had either made or found some more appropriate clothes to change into than her school dress... she wasn't quite in the badass getup that I'd pictured for her when we were in the middle of rescuing Liz, but that might be good, considering that we might need to lay low in Santa Fe, walk down the street without attracting attention. Isabel dressed all in tight black stuff - yeah, that would definitely generate a spotlight around her. Instead, she was in those slightly stretchy blue jeans and a fairly plain yellow t-shirt. Maria, Tess, and Michael had also changed their clothes, I thought, though I couldn't remember just then what they'd been wearing before. It probably didn't matter.

We stayed at the motel a little longer, knowing that it would probably be our last safe harbour until the rest of the plan had played out. Drilled with the Orb a little and tried to talk with Nacero a little more about our powers. Ate just about everything that was available in the little diner next to the motel office. And then it was back on the road, heading north and east, falling back onto the main highway, but only for a little while. We had to make it look like we were heading for the state line.

-----------

"Okay, we're gonna need to make our break for Fanta Se now," Michael said over the phone line. "If we go too far to the east, it'll be obvious what's going on - and we'll be moving further away from our target anyway."

"Hmm..." I considered the map spread out on my lap as I sat in the front passenger seat of the Jeep, Isabel next to me behind the wheel. "Yeah, but let's go through to Santa Rosa anyway. We'll have the interstate once we get there."

"Mrrmf," Michael mumbled. "Are you sure that Pierce is still back in Roswell?"

"Yeah, she's sitting tight. Hasn't moved."

"I'm not sure I like that," Isabel announced. "Means that she's near the Roswell airfield - what do we do if she charters a jet? She could beat us to Santa Fe that way."

"Maybe," I admitted. "But we could still get to the right place to make your plan work, while she worries about chasing us down, Isabel." Isabel grumbled a little under her breath. "And I'm not sure that getting that plane will be so easy for her."

"What else woud she be doing right now, as she watches us take off for the edge of the state?" Michael asked me over the phone. Great - the two of them were double-teaming just like they used to in the old days, except that now they couldn't even hear when the other one was lecturing, really. Which meant that at any moment, they might start lecturing me at the same time. "She couldn't have been expecting us to go back to Roswell once we got past Vaughn. Which meant that she'd be coming to terms with the idea that she'd have to intercept us or chase us... ergo, calling up police cars that could chase us, and getting ready to intercept by plane. She's not expecting that the place she'll have to fly is Santa Fe yet - but she knows that she'll have to fly somewhere."

"It's too bad that there are so many National forests around Santa Fe," Liz put in from behind me - well, not quite behind me, because right behind my seat was the space where people came in through the side door, so there wasn't a seat right there. "We could take a road that would take us right past Santa Fe, without making it clear that we'd get there until we were only fifteen minutes or so away. But that's out."

"Maybe she'll think that we're just passing through Santa Fe on the way up to Colorado," I said without much enthusiasm. "Would she catch a plane up here if she thought we were just passing through?"

"Probably yeah, if she knew that she could get much closer to us that way," Isabel replied. "But we'll be turning back west onto the interstate at Santa Rosa anyway."

We did - and as far as I could tell, Pierce didn't get on her plane until we turned back north at Clines corners... which makes sense, really - because until we got off the interstate, it kinduv looked like we were doubling back towards Albuquerque. (It might have worked even better if we'd actually been able to convince Pierce to go to Albuquerque, but she'd been too canny to jump for that.) From Clines to Santa Fe was just a stretch a little over an hour long up route 285, and I think that Pierce had some problems getting a plane at the Roswell airfield, and hadn't been able to get a big flashy jet that would get her up here REALLY fast. If we could find the FBI building where Tess' mom was being held, we'd have something like fifteen or twenty minutes there well before Pierce arrived.

"I know the building well," Tony said softly. "It's an office block on the west side of town, west and a little south. Southeast corner of Riley and Margaret. Pierce's people have the top two floors - there's more conventional FBI operations elsewhere inside, and some kind of investment banking company."

Isabel shot me a look. "Do we go in the same way as before? Paralysis field, and the whole deal."

"Need to talk to Nacero," I replied. "If it's possible, I'd like to try stopping EVERYTHING but us from moving - not just people."

"What?" Alex asked, blinking. "Like a time freeze or something?"

"It's a complete contradiction to stop time in the real world - or useless, anyway," I told him. "Just like the paralysis field, but also 'paralyzing' large solid objects... unless we want them to move."

"Gonna be a tall order, even with Nacero and the orb," Isabel predicted.

"Yeah, we'll see." A pause. "Turn left here, yeah?"

"Yep." Tony nodded.

---------

ISABEL:

"Okay, the Orb," Max said, bringing it back out as we gathered near where we'd parked the cars, a few blocks away from the building that Mister Harding had told us about. "Only one person can hold it as we move in, and that should probably be..." He broke off, shaking his head, and looked at Nacero, who was back in his 'Tv's Angel' shape. "Sorry, man, do you have a name, anything that you'd prefer that we call you? I mean, well, I kinda get the impression you'd rather we didn't use..." He trailed off, not even saying it out loud.

Nacero leaned close to the three of us. "You can call me Efrarv. For the rest of them - Nacero is as good as anything." Max's eyes widened, but he didn't object to that distinction, or ask what the new name meant, what language it was in. Myself, I just hoped that Efrarv (wow, that was hard to pronounce, even in my head,) would stick with the program, even though we were trying to rescue a human, and wouldn't try to turn on us in the middle of the mission. He'd been helpful so far, but still seemed worryingly unstable.

Max didn't seem too worried, though - as his next little spiel showed. "Well, only one of us can carry the Orb as we go in, and I think that should be you, Efrarv. But maybe... the rest of us would benefit by each holding it for a moment beforehand? Get a kind of a power boost... and some useful tricks from it as well?" Efrarv nodded, and Max seemed to close his eyes and concentrate for... for about twenty-five seconds or so, I guess. Then he handed it over to Michael.

"Umm, okay." Michael took the orb, but looked uncertain. "Any idea what our plan is? Are we going for the bold frontal intrusion like before?"

"No," Efrarv said with a small smile. "Distract and deceive. Keep them guessing. Stop them or fight them only as a last resort."

"That sounds good to me," Max muttered, and I had to agree. Michael didn't ask any more questions, and he did the same sort of silent communing with the Orb as Max had. Then he passed it over to me, and I tried to get my thoughts in some sort of order that wasn't full of fear and worry and dwelling unduly on Alex. That wouldn't help any of us now. I... I needed a model of the sort of abilities that I could get from this thing, and - almost unbelievably, the best that I could get was from Dungeons and Dragons. (Yes, I've played AD&D - try not to look so surprised. Back in grade four, it was the 'cool thing' for a particular clique of girls that I was trying to, erm, shamelessly claw my way through in order to rise in the social strata of my grade. Roswell is weird like that sometimes. Also, Max and Michael liked it too, so even after I'd left those girls behind, I would sometimes get talked into playing a session with them in Max's room. I'm not explaining any more about it now.)

But what I could remember of the magic-user rules was actually very helpful here. Specific 'spells' that someone who had sufficient power could memorize, and then use when the need arose. Of course, D&D magic-users needed to hem and haw while their warriors protected them for precious segments of time before casting a spell - reciting incantations, making gestures, and finding material components. Aliens could get things done a lot quicker. And I should be able to use my powers to do something that I hadn't 'memorized' if there was a need. Still, this seemed about as good a way of preparing as any that I could think of.

Time seemed to slow as I made my choices. The heavy hitter 'spells' were the ones that I needed to worry about preparing at this point - no need to worry about pissant stuff to open doors or shoot little bolts of energy - the sort of things that were first or second-level spells. I picked a short-period area-effect paralyzation tactic, a bit more limited in its basic pattern than the one that Max used back in Roswell, but I would be able to expand it or extend it if there was true need. Several direct-sense illusions that would cloak us from Special Unit guards, or convince them that they saw attackers somewhere else, and the equivalent manipulations for electronic video - blanking out a display by overlaying an old picture onto it, or simulating new pictures onto it with high-resolution detail. (That was quite a doozy - but it should be really effective if I had a chance to use it.) What else?? My brain was still thrumming with the potential that the color wall had shown us - Unchained thought. We'd need everything we could get, if not now, then when Pierce showed up.

Anti-psionics would still probably be necessary, so I loaded up on patterns like that - three basic variants: 'dispelling' an existing psionic effect, resisting or blocking a new psionic attack, and cloaking or phantasming psionic senses. That was nearly all the spells that I could memorize at whatever my Alien experience level was, so I took a gamble on a physical energy attack - yeah, the lighning bolt. Shaking myself out of it, I noticed Max and Michael staring at me a little impatiently. How long had I been at it? Well, that didn't matter so much right now. I passed the Orb over to Efrarv and looked around. "Who else is going with us?"

"Tony," Michael said softly. "His experience could come in really handy - and he'll be able to convince Evelyn that she's better off with us." He considered everybody else. "Tess... can you keep our friends safe?"

Tess gulped a little. "I... I'll do my best. We may have to take our chances on the run if any significant danger manifests - but I don't think they'll worry about us much while you're on the warpath. Still, I'll do whatever I can to protect them. It... it's the least that I can do, under the circumstances."

"Yeah, seems like a fair trade," I said in a low voice, and hurried over to kiss Alex passionately. Michael looked like he'd like to do the same thing to Maria, but both of them were a little too nervous, so he just hugged her and whispered something in her ear that I couldn't quite make out. Then, as Tess, Alex, Maria, and Liz headed into the Jetta to wait and be ready in case they had to run, the rest of us started to make our way up towards the office building. The downtown rush hour was nearly over here in Santa Fe by the time we arrived, but still a few people shot bemused glances our way as we moved into formation - Efrarv, Max, Michael, and I taking the four points of a rough square, (or maybe a rectangle,a bit longer than it was wide,) in that order from front to back, left to right, and Tony within. Walking up the street like that, with nearly the same battle-ready expression on every face, we... that was it. We had to look like one of those 'power shot' big walks from out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, which made it even funnier that Efrarv looked like David Boreanaz.

Nobody challenged us as we finished the two-block trip, and I reached out with alien senses toward the building, then realized that the space was already clogged with perceptive powers, and I could afford to just wait and let the others tell me anything I needed to do. "Security system all over the building," Max muttered softly. "Two guards in the lobby... they may be the only ones until we get to the floor."

I reached out to touch Michael's hand, and with quiet exhiliration realized that I didn't even need to speak to communicate a plan to him. "We've got that covered," Michael muttered. He worried about the high-tech digital cameras, while I reached out and influenced the perceptions of the guards. When we strode into the lobby, they didn't see three teenagers and a twenty-something hunk that resembled a TV action star - but two more guards wearing uniforms and no shoulder patches on their uniforms, a male doctor or scientist in a formal lab coat... and Danielle Pierce. Tony Harding I left exactly as he was - but with the change in the rest of our roles, his spot in the middle of our formation could be seen as a prisoner being escorted into custody.

"Who... who are you people?" One of the guards said, stepping up. "What are you doing here?"

I scowled my best Pierce-scowl at them, and then suddenly realized a minor flaw in the plan. Since the real Pierce guarded her true identity so carefully that nobody could attack her, it wasn't likely that her appearence would immediately cow low-ranking grunts like this. What to do now? Should we incapacitate these guys before they could sound an alarm? What if that were noticed??

But the 'doctor', Max, seemed to have an idea. "This is top secret, Wilkes. You didn't see either of these people." He waved casually at Tony and I.

"B-but," the other guy protested. "How can we just take *your* word that..."

"My clearance." Max pulled his wallet out and opened it up with one surprisingly smooth gesture, flashing his West Roswell High student photo ID. Both guards nodded and resumed their position. Max let out only the softest of chuckles while we walked up to the elevator.

"You enjoyed that far too much, 'doc'," Michael whispered, almost silently. "How did you know what to make your picture look like?"

*I told him.* This voice WAS completely silent, or maybe better to say it wasn't really voice, just words ringing in our heads - I was somehow sure that Max and Michael heard it as well. Efrarv. *Wasn't hard to see far enough into the poor fool's mind to know what would satisfy him.*

Wow. That was pretty deep stuff, even by the standards of our own rapidly developing powers. Just like controlling minds, reading minds was inherently difficult, no matter how much mastery of unchained thought you had... issues of quantum uncertainty had to arise, not to mention the simple fact that everybody's brain had evolved to work differently, based on unique genetic combinations and differing experiences. But apparently Efrarv had had a lot of time to work it out - maybe it was especially different for him because his brain was more different than most.

In the elevator, I put in control blocks, to make sure that no Special Unit system could override control and try to trap us in there, and to make sure that it wouldn't stop on any other floor. "Okay, should we maybe change our disguises at this point?" Max asked. "Since the Pierce gambit doesn't seem to have worked so well."

"What about the security cameras?" I asked. "If someone sees one group enter the elevator, and another leave it, that would be a huge tip-off that something was wrong. Even if someone in a Special Unit party was psionic, they wouldn't play games like that on their own security staff, no?"

"Isn't there a camera here in the elevator?" Tony asked.

"Umm... not that I could pick up, no," I said. Tony seemed to frown in thought at that.

"Guys, let's not worry about it," Michael said. "Max, if you have a better disguise, you run that on anybody close to us. I'll keep up the same imagery on the security monitors as we were using down there. That way, if anybody's trying to find us based on warnings from security, they'll never be able to. Sounds good?"

"Okay," Max said. "Umm, Efrarv, can we try a variant of that same trick - you get images from Special Unit minds about what people who are high in the ranks here look like - ones that aren't here already - and I'll work the illusion?"

"It... it's not that easy Max," Efrarv replied. "ID badges are a lot simpler to tease out than that... and we don't have any agents right in front of us now." Max frowned slightly.

"Wait a second," I said. "I think I've still got some imagery from Topolsky. Is that worth a shot? We're a little bit low on context I know."

Max sighed. "I think it'll be worth a try. It's not like we'll be helpless if they figure out that something's not right, after all." So I tried to send Max pictures of faces and uniforms, and he smiled, and I let my illusion drop so that Max could recreate it. He didn't include any of the five of us in the deception, so I wasn't quite sure who I was supposed to be as we strode out of the elevator on the right floor.

"Mis... mister Wieley," the receptionist gasped as we made our way through. The security guards here in the reception area just seemed confused. "What... what's going..."

"We're just on our way to containment with this fucker," Efrarv growled, and that was enough to get us past the receptionist and into the claustrophobic corridors inside the floor. The first hallway intersection we came to, Max led the way left, but Tony waved to the right.

"Have you ever been here before?" Michael asked Mister Harding suspiciously.

"No, but I've got a lot of experience with layouts of Government offices like that," Tony whispered back. "Trust it."

Max seemed like he wasn't sure. I tried reaching out with my mind to see if I could sense anyone who was feeling... trapped. Yes, there was one, and it was in the direction that Tony indicated. "Come on, Max," I said. Oddly, the mood of the confined person wasn't hopeless or depressed, but... excited? If that was Mrs Harding, could she tell that Tony was close??

Tony led the way, well, nearly - Max insisted on still going in front of him, but he followed Tony's directions, and soon we were in a section of heavily reinforced security doors, and while Tony hesistated, I led the way to the hopeful mind that I had sensed. "Who wants to do the honors?" I asked, gesturing at the door.

"Allow me," Efrarv said, and he didn't even go near the door, just looked at it, and the display above the keypad lit up in a pattern of green LEDs (88 - 88 among other things, those little LED designs that could be any other number, but show 8 when all seven of them are lit up,) and the door slid open. A tall handsome woman, who did look a lot like Ms Pierce, except that her hair was a bit darker, looked out cautiously, frowned slightly at me, and then noticed Tony and rushed towards him. "Have... have you come to fetch me away?" she asked him in a whisper that wasn't quiet enough to keep any of us from hearing.

"Yeah," Michael muttered. "It's just the getting away part that might be tricky."

-----------

LIZ:

We waited in the car for a long time after Max and the others had left. Then suddenly I blurted out, without realizing why, "Got trouble!"

Tess looked at me sharply. "How... how can you tell??"

"Umm... not - wait." I shook my head. "Somebody coming the other way." I pointed in the direction of the back of the car. "They know something's going wrong in the office, and suspect we might be here."

"Liz, how do you know all of this?" Maria asked.

Tess was craning around to look back there. "If only I had more sensory powers," she muttered. "Liz, how do we know that this 'sensation' isn't just another crackerjack surprise that Pierce stuck into your head while she had you?"

"Be- because!" I spat out. "Because I think I could tell by now - and Isabel woulda seen it. I still feel a few weird twinges of Pierce's influsnce, but I know what they are now and can fight against them. This..." I sighed. "Maybe because I used to be so close to Max, I'm able to get a hint of the power that he has now. THEY'RE GETTING CLOSER!!"

"I believe you, Liz," Alex said. "Should we get the van, too? Will they do something to Mister Harding's ride, like torching it?"

"I don't think there's time," I muttered. "And no, they're unlikely to stop for that."

"I think I see them," Tess muttered. She was looking in the driver's side mirror, had turned the ignition and was revving up the Jetta's motor, but hadn't taken us out of Park. I didn't understand why she wasn't getting underway as soon as possible, but guessed that she had some sort of plan. Sure enough, when she suddenly gunned us out into traffic like a bat outta hell, I saw the point. She had waited long enough that the Special Unit car had started to brake, hoping to block us in so that we couldn't go anywhere, and then started to move, so that we were picking up speed while they were still slowing. It wasn't a trick that bought us a whole lot of time. but was relatively cool looking nonetheless.

"Okay, so not only do they know that we're around, but they were able to tell exactly which car we were in?" Alex muttered. "How the hell??"

"Probably have a low-level psionic in there or something," I said absently.

"Very interesting," Maria muttered, "but we now have slightly bigger problems. Like how the heck we get away from them??"

"I'm on it," Tess muttered, and indeed she was weaving so crazily through the traffic that the big black car was hard pressed to catch up. "Liz, if you've got any sort of power, maybe you could try to add some other useful diversions."

"Like what?" I yelped, suddenly completely out of ideas.

"Blow out their tires?" Alex suggested. I shot a look at him. "Well, come on. If Michael can do it..."

"Maybe a bright flash of light in their eyes?" Tess suggested, and that actually made sense. Well, if it was actually possible for me to create a bright flash of light on command, without using a camera or anything like that. I struggled internally, trying to get a grip on whatever powers I had, as Tess kept on driving, sticking to big streets full of evening traffic as much as she could, getting further and further away from the office building.

Finally, just when I was thinking that I'd never be able to do it and wondering whether Tess could lose these guys on her own, it happened. A spot in mid-air lit up like a miniature sun, creating a remarkably bright and long-lasting radiance. The black car drove into the light for a few seconds, then turned away suddenly and sideswiped a pickup truck. "Whooo!" I yelled, turning up to face Tess, just in time to hear metal scrape against metal as we passed close enough to a parked car to touch it.

"Sorry," Tess mumbled to the entire company. "I... I was looking in the rearview mirror just when you set that off, Liz. Kinda got a little dazzled myself.

"Oh, boy," Maria moaned as Tess just managed to swerve around a corner.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	22. Part 6c

MICHAEL:

"Okay, come on, no time for hesitation now," I said, as Tony Harding and his wife embraced. "Or for long hugs, either. Umm... somebody make sure to cover us all on the security cameras from here on out..."

"No," Max said, and he reached out and put his hand over Efrarv's, touching the shapeshifter and the alien power orb at the same time. Efrarv's face betrayed a bit of surprise, but suddenly there was a huge and complicated wash of energy coming from both of them - cautiously violent, if that isn't an oxymoron, and changing in pattern so quickly that I could never have anticipated it, or defended against it - except that it wasn't aimed at me, and only a small part of it actually flowed through me. (That small part was completely harmless, as far as I could tell.) Not quite understanding what was going on there, I chose to focus on the outside, ready to defend against any reaction. Sure enough, there were more than a few frightened or angry mental probes that tried to forge upstream against the wash, questing to find its source, and I was able to help fend them off while Max and Efrarv found their source.

"What... what's going on?" Isabel asked nervously. "Max, what are you doing? I - I thought that we were trying not to..."

Max didn't reply until the power surge had ended, and that was forty-five seconds or so after Isabel had spoken. "I... I did what we came here to do, besides rescuing Evelyn," he said in a gruff voice, letting his hand fall away. "I've neutralized most of the Special unit here - the guards, the elite agents, the psionic talents. There's a few psis who have managed to put up a barrier that we can't break down from this distance - we'll have to get closer. Aside from that..." And Max took in a long, ragged sigh. "I don't think anybody will be waking up for a few hours, or be in fighting shape for longer. Nobody's dead, and I don't think more than a few will have lasting mental injuries, but..."

"More than a *few*?" Isabel asked. "Max, listen to yourself!"

"We're not going to get this breakfast made without cracking a few eggs," Efrarv said with a bitter laugh. "These people here should be grateful that we've shown them so much mercy. It's more than their leader would ever do for us."

"Well, come on then," Evelyn said. "Let's get this done and leave the building. I... I find it as unpleasant as any of you do - but I've seen enough to be convinced of the necessity." Evelyn kept her hand in Tony's and led the way down the corridor the way that we had come. "This way, right?"

"Umm - yeah," Max concurred, seeming surprised about it. I guess he hadn't thought that Evelyn's psi powers would be strong enough to sense this little enclave of resisting Special Unit-ers. (I hadn't figured out as much, though in my defense I hadn't really been trying.) We hurried back, and then took a different branch.

"Okay, if you were capable of going all Unchained on their asses," Isabel remarked, "then why did we sneak inside?"

"Because the power of Unchained thought wouldn't have been sufficient to wipe them all out if they'd been on guard for an assault from without," Efrarv explained, "or intruders fighting their way in. But Max waited until we were in the depths of their stronghold, unsuspected, before unleashing our weapon." He looked over at Max with a dim measure of respect. "Not... not something I'd have been human enough to think of for myself, but I can appreciate the results."

"By the way, it seemed like there were other things to do than ask before," Evelyn added, "but... may I assume I'm in the presence of the four aliens that Tess told me about? The ones whose existence got me locked up and my family drafted into Special Unit service - not that I blame you for existing or anything, but..."

"We're not... not the others," Efrarv said, and I groaned with the realization that he was suddenly back into Unclear/cryptic mode. "Halfway... this and halfway that - neither fowl nor fish."

"Whatever that means," I groaned. And then suddenly a burst of yellow-white light burst out of - well, at the time, I had no idea where it had come from, just that it was bright, and painful, and kind of hot. The pain was... it wasn't just in my eyes, but centering mostly around my face. What had happened? I... I couldn't seem to open my mouth to ask.

"Mi - Michael!" A voice - sounded like Isabel's. "Fro -- for crap's sake GEDDOWN!"

Oh, right. I tried to drop into an alert crouch, and ended up sprawling over a section of floor. Well, that at least accomplished the major objective. Hands touched my arm and shoulder... strong hands, tinged with faint calusses. Was that Tony? And... and what had happened? The actual event had been too fast to process, but the results - ohh, the pain was starting to make me dizzy, even though I couldn't fall. My - my face. My face had been hit by something - maybe an energy bolt out of... coming through the corridor wall? That... that made a horrible kind of sense. I... I couldn't see anything, couldn't seem to open my eyes or my mouth. My nose hurt especially, and I could smell something cooking. That... that would probably be my own skin - oh, no. And taste a trace of my own blood... Dammit, Max, where were you? The answer was also self-evident - he had to react to the threat, to make sure that we'd all be safe, before coming back and healing me. But... but would his healing powers be enough to help me if... if, I wasn't sure what happened. Thoughts in my head were starting to get a bit swimmy. Was there any secondary effect starting to hit my brain? I didn't think Max could just heal brain, it was way too complicated to put back exactly as it had been if I had brain damage. And could he do eyes - eyes were really complicated too. He... he wouldn't need to open up my eyes to heal me, like he had with Liz, right? The new techniques he's learned from the color wall and the orb must have made that...

The next thing I clearly remember is looking up at Max, of bringing my fingers up to my face, my nose and mouth, and realizing that I was healed. (I only just stopped my fingers from poking into an eye to make sure that that was sound as well, even though any four-year old could tell me that was about the worst thing I could do for my eye. "Umm... hey, thanks man," I muttered. "In with the save."

"You sure you're fine?" he asked nervously.

"Just about tip top," I said, picking myself up, nodding with thanks to Mister Harding. "Good job. Got the last holdouts too?"

"Yeah," Max agreed. "Our... our ever-changeable friend could probably have handled them alone, or with Isabel's help - but I didn't..."

"S'okay, brother," I assured him. "I... I admit I was wondering when you'd show up, but I'm okay. Really. And no harm, no foul, right??"

"Really?" the shapeshifter said, coming close. I looked up and suddenly realized that a much larger hole had been punched out of the wall to the next room, though he had come through the original door. Isabel walked through the hole, which was a foot higher than the three of us and probably wide enough that the three of us, (Max, Isabel, and me) could have gone through it in side by side formation. "I always thought it was no arm no fowl." He considered. "Your version makes a lot more sense, Michael."

"Umm... glad that I could help," I said. If Maria had said something like that, it would have been funny, but here, even though I've heard people say things like that - from an often-psychopathic killer alien, it just reinforced how wide the gulf was that seperated Efrarv from humanity. And... and something was starting to make me think that he had lost everything, including his mental balance, because he couldn't understand people, and that was why we were... why we were here? (Why we had been born, or created, or whatever term applied to the beginning of my existence, and Isabel's and Max's.) I... I was glad that I existed, I guess, though that was somewhat contigent on a happy ending to all of this Special Unit business. But I still didn't trust Efrarv further than Unchained thought could throw him - which was probably nowhere at all, if he wanted to use his own powers to stay put.

Well, we left the building hurriedly then, and I reached out a thought towards where we'd left the others - and they weren't there. Neither was the Jetta. "Dammit, I should've..."

"What could we have done about them, before making sure that we'd gotten out safely ourselves?" Isabel asked softly. Suddenly I wondered if she HAD known beforehand, and hadn't said anything on purpose.

"Wait a second, what's going on?" Evelyn Harding asked again. "Did... were you expecting to meet people out here?"

"Not here," Isabel said in a low voice, "but down the street a ways, and we can 'see' well enough to tell that they're not there." After a pause, she added calmly, as if it was an afterthought, "Tess was with them."

"Oh, no," Evelyn breathed. "My daughter is many incredible things, but... but good at taking care of herself? Her... her powers aren't strong in attack or defense. And... and if the four of you are here, then... then there's nobody with unearthly powers back there?"

"We... we thought we might need all of our abilities to go in and get you," I said uncomfortably. *Maria*!! In retrospect, it should have been better to...

"Now, let's nobody overreact," Max put in. "They were supposed to take off if there was any sign that they'd been noticed. It doesn't mean that anybody's been hurt - though I'll agree that we should rendezvous ASAP. To whit, let's get to the van in double-time. My link with Liz is strong, and that should lead us to the rest of them too."

"Alright." Isabel let out one sigh of relief and started to run. Evelyn couldn't keep up the pace as fast as the rest of us, and eventually Efrarv scooped her up and carried her without slowing down one bit. I guess maybe he has alien strength in a way that we don't. (Or can he just use unchained thought to reinforce or boost his body's abilities? Hmm, that might be something useful to experiment with at some point.) Soon enough, we were all in the van and heading off - Tony was driving, with Max giving him directions from the shotgun seat.

"I... I do want to thank you," Evelyn muttered to Isabel. "Which - which one of you guys was - was the first? The one who's been on Earth the longest?"

"Oh, that's him," Isabel said, nodding to Efrarv. "Nacero, or - well, something like that." Efrarv had implied that we shouldn't use his private name for people who had been born human, that 'Nacero' - the visitor, was good enough for them to address him with. Since we didn't want to offend him, it seemed best to humor him, especially since there was no telling if there was some other significance to the name than a difficult collection of consonants on the end of it. "I... I guess Tess told you a lot about - about what she sensed from us, especially before Pierce split you up. When she was first figuring out that she had the power to read alien thoughts."

"Yeah, I guess so," Evelyn said, and let out a long sigh. Efrarv wasn't commenting on anything much, so suddenly the only sounds were Max muttering as he tried to reconcile his inner sense of connection to Liz with what his eyes told him about the streets and traffic. That would have been hard enough if Liz had been stationary, but pretty soon it became clear that she wasn't - and that someone was very probably still in hot pursuit. Max started to get impatient, and upset with Mister Harding - but Tony was doing the best he could - he couldn't catch up much faster because of the traffic on the Santa Fe streets, and he couldn't immediately change direction based on Max's notions. Nobody could.

I just sighed and kept holding on to my thoughts of Maria. "What - whatever's going on over there, just hold on, babe."

-----------

MARIA:

I held on for dear life as Tess screeched through another hairpin turn at high speed.

"Dammit," Alex muttered. "Do they have some kinduv a professional stunt driver back there?"

"I would guess that the Special unit trains people specially in this kind of thing," Liz said, rather calmly. "As well as the FBI and other elite police teams. Of course, even so most of the time when you really NEED a trained urban pursuit driver, you probably don't have one available, because they can't teach the skills to that many people, and this sort of situation probably tends to develop very suddenly, when you don't have an opportunity to call up a specialist..."

Just at that point, Tess cut off Liz's increasingly off-topic ranting, with a succint "Crash positions!"

"Heh, what??" I turned back to a forward facing position, and then realized that I was seeing 'what'. It looked like Tess had managed to misjudge a turn and skid the car, and - well, we were heading straight for a dumpster in some wide back-alley. It was coming up on my side, so that we'd be hitting at an angle, and I tried to remember what to do in a car crash. Cover my head with my hands? Put my head between my legs? No, that would never work with the shoulder seat belt - and they'd never have put in shoulder seat belts if that was a good thing to do anyhow. Probably I should just try and stay relaxed and sitting in an upright position. But - cmon, who was I kidding? We were about to crash - how could I possibly stay relaxed. Well, I hadn't been especially relaxed to start with, so how could I possibly *get* relaxed??

I wondered if this car had had a passenger side airbag, and that was about the last thing I remember before the jarring sensation and the bone-rattling thud hit. When the rattling was fading - the crash was over, and most of the crumple space in the front right of the car had crumpled itself, but at least it hadn't crumpled into the ME space. Well - only slightly - I definitely had less and more oddly shaped leg room now, but that hardly seemed to matter. I also had no big white air-baggy thing blown up in my face and lap and everywhere in between, so either there wasn't one or it had failed to deploy. Pretty much par for the course either way. I unbuckled and tried to open the door - it came open, but only a little, and I wasn't quite sure whether I'd be able to squeeze out that way. Looked around a bit more.

Liz and Alex had already gotten out of the back seat, and Liz was hurrying to Tess' side. The driver airbag in the middle of the steering wheel definitely HAD gone off, and Tess seemed to be having some trouble - whether it was just not being able to free herself from the airbag and the seatbelt, or if she was actually having problems getting air to breathe, (which would be more serious,) I wasn't sure. I reached out and tried to pull bag away from the vicinity of her face, and was rewarded with a big gasping sound. "Okay, you're welcome." After a moment, I realized that I could reach the buckle of Tess' seat belt from here, and she'd probably appreciate my help there, so I unbuckled it. Soon it seemed that Liz would be able to get her the rest of the way free, so I returned to my own circumstances. I didn't really like the idea of crawling past Tess' air bag myself to get out on her side, so what was my best choise otherwise??

"Does - does this help Maria?" Alex asked, and he tried to pull my door a bit more widely open, pressing it nearly flat against the dumpster.

"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid," I muttered to myself, and dived into the gap. For a long, squishy moment I was convinced that I'd wedged myself in so solidly that I'd never get out, either way, but then one more panicked wriggle and ta-da, through the tight spot. Alex and I rounded the back passenger-side corner of what was left of the Jetta, just as Liz and Tess showed up from the other side of the car.

And... and just in time to see four Special unit agents in dark blue suits pile out of the car that had been chasing us. Oh. Right. "Dammit, we don't have time for this," Liz muttered, though come to think of it, I wasn't sure what the emergency would have been if it HADN'T been for them. We needed to find the others and rendezvous with them, but that didn't seem like something that I was willing to hurry about, even though it'd be nice to see Michael's face and have him make a fuss about the scratch that I suddenly realized I'd somehow picked up on my cheek. (He'd *better* make a fuss about wanting to protect me, if he knows what's good for him!)

For a second, the special unit people just stared... not sure if they just couldn't believe it was this easy to catch us, or maybe they were worried that at least one of us had kick-ass alien powers and they were up against more than they could deal with. Somehow I was pretty sure that none of them were psis - well, at most, one or two might be low-level psis like Tess was. (Her alien telepathy trick wasn't completely penny-ante, but it didn't really help her out much in a fight - at best it could help call the cavalry for backup. And nothing else she'd done was very impressive at all.) Three guys and one girl - which oddly enough, was kinduv the reverse of us in terms of gender proportions, and the same mix as the four aliens were. One guy was, umm - let's see. I never really got all of the details of what they looked like terribly straight in my mind, because the situation was a little frightening and so much had already happened to confuse me, but... one guy, the driver I think, was fairly average-looking, 'neutral' hair and not too tall or too short or - maybe a little bit on the skinny side, but there was a cold gleam in his eyes as he looked at us. Another guy looked a bit more stereotypically like a police brute - tall, wide, not that smart but determined, muscles all over the place. The woman was kind of... plain, but not in an unattractive way because she was pretty I guess - mid-brown hair too, and in her late twenties I decided. She was just someone who it would be hard to really notice that much if you didn't have a very good reason to - which probably made her very good at following people in crowds or certain kinds of undercover work.

And then, the fourth agent was short - probably around my height or another half-inch higher, and even skinnier than the driver had been, in proportion. But he was the one who scared me most of all because he was the one who was holding a gun in our direction. Nothing particularly big or complicated as guns went - some kind of pistol I guess. But all I could seem to think about was how easily that little thing could ruin or end somebody's life. Never liked guns at the best of times, going back years before Liz got shot.

Okay... so what did we do? We... we couldn't really hope to win a fight against these guys, could we? Looking more closely, I realized that shorty wasn't the only one who was armed - the chick's hand was straying towards some sort of electrical looking device hanging from her belt... a shock prod or something like that? The driver... his wasn't meant to be so obvious, but I thought I could tell from the way he moved that he had a holster under his shoulder, though he wasn't going near it. And the big guy - bulge around his ankle was VERY suspicious, not that he really needed firearms or any other kind of weapon to hurt people.

"What... what's the problem?" Alex suddenly asked. "Why - why were you following us? Are you cops? Or... or mobsters or something? We... we haven't done anything wrong, that I'm aware of, and if I accidentally offended the godfather of New Mexico, then, um, then I'm really sorry, but..."

Shorty and Chick shared a look. Chick nudged the driver and muttered something. Driver fished in his jacket and came out with a few things - one of which was a badge. "Federal Bureau of Investigations, son." That was a laugh. The driver couldn't have been... well, maybe five or six years older than Alex, tops. "Maybe you haven't done anything wrong - I don't know. But we have a warrant to take you in for questioning as important witnesses regarding a very serious crime..."

"Since... since when do they issue warrants to take important witnesses in for questioning??" Tess asked - a pretty good point, I had to admit.

"And what about the fact that I was kidnapped - held against my will for no lawful reason in Roswell?" Liz shot back. "Is that a very serious crime too? Because the people who did that called themselves FBI too, and I'll bet some of them had badges as fancy as yours."

"Sarcastic backtalk is *not* going to get you anywhere," Chick snapped imperiously. "I do not want to use painful force here, but unless you come along quietly..."

Might as well join in the sarcastic backtalk myself, no matter what Chick said. "Does firing the gun count as 'painful force'??"

That was it. "No, but this does!" She strode forward - but not towards me. Bringing out her shock prod, she apparently picked out Tess as the one to torture as a way of teaching me a lesson. Certainly she was no mind reader, then - seeing Liz or Alex would definitely have been more personally painful for me. But still, I'd have to have had a heart of stone to be entirely unmoved by the whimpers of pain as the short blonde girl - who I had to admit had done her best to help us all out - fell to her knees and convulsed under a charge from the prod.

There - there seemed to be no help for it now. Tess had undoubtedly got a call for help out before she'd been zapped, and maybe Max was able to follow his 'connection to Liz' as well. The alien cavalry would be here soon, and would make quick work out of these jokers. Without psi, mere humans had no defense against the ET onslaught. We'd already distracted them long enough to give our guys a head start - or so I hoped. What if they were still inside the Special Unit building? No, that couldn't possibly be. They *had* to have gotten out by now.

And then, there was the question of what the Special unit guys would do with us now that they had us. The car that they'd been chasing us in was a very ordinary looking four-door sedan, and there was four of them and now four of us, making up a grand total of eight - way too many to fit inside. Driver apparently went back to call for reinforcements, and seemed to have trouble reaching the comm room back at headquarters. That, undoubtedly, had something to do with Max and the others' visit. There were some whispered consultations, and apparently Driver and Chick were going to take the most important-looking witnesses, while Shorty and Bruteus watched the other two. Alex and I were the ones left behind, which I wasn't sure if I was reassured by or not. Now that they were splitting up, and splitting us up - then the rest of our group would probably have to rescue us one split at a time. Tess' call for help would have included this area, but if Max was following Liz, then he'd find the car first. And what would Shorty do if he found out that aliens had attacked his friends? Would he shoot us out of anger and as a way of getting back at them? Try to use us as hostages??

I was hoping for a sudden and dramatic rescue so hard that at first I thought I was just imagining it. Just as Bruteus was escorting Liz into the back seat of the car, Mister Harding's van pulled up into the alley behind it, stopped, and Nacero, Max, and Michael poured out of it. The four FBI guys went down under their powers so fast that I wasn't sure what had hit them, if it was anything that I could have identified. Pure thought-power, maybe. The fact that Michael was getting proficient in something so completely beyond my understanding was getting a little scary, but I was CERTAINLY not complaining at this point. I hurried up to Michael to hug him in relief, and Alex rushed past us to see if Isabel was still in the van. Liz jumped out of the car and came to Max, and he opened his arms expecting a hug of his own, but Liz first led him around to see if Tess would be okay. (She'd been so out of it that the FBI guys had had to carry her into the front seat of the car and buckle her in themselves.)

Nacero scowled at Michael and made a disapproving sound deep in his throat. "You let your guard down," he growled.

"What?" Michael jumped, and tried to let go of me, however I was still hanging on and had my arms over top of his, so that didn't work too well until I relaxed my own grip. "Uh-oh. There's another threat?? Where?" Nacero pointed up at the other end of the alley, past the crashed Volkswagen - and both of us turned, arms still around each other, and gasped.

The new figure didn't look nearly as impressive as the agents who had already been knocked unconscious or whatever. (I didn't figure Max or Michael for killing them.) He was slightly on the tall side, with fairly light hair, not long but a bit shaggy, as if he hadn't had time to get it cut lately. He was wearing black loose-fit jeans and a green pullover shirt with a few buttons at the top, but somehow the sense of menace and danger that accompanied him was instantly easy to recognize, no matter that his own appearance didn't fit it. Part of it had to be that he was a strong Psi himself - again, I'm not sure how I could tell this, but maybe now that I've had a little experience with Psi and alien powers, my own mind has learned to pick up on the telltale signs of a brain that has learned how to manipulate the world around it, even though I can't do the same thing myself. "Well, what have we here?" he asked, in a soft tone that instantly cut through all the other little noises and activities in that place.

Max looked up from Tess to the newcomer, and growled softly. "I figured that was too easy. You're their backup??"

"Not intentionally, but yeah, in practice I guess so," he replied softly. "Was just out taking a walk, but I diverted to this area when I learned that a chase was heading in the direction it was... and when they found out that they couldn't reach headquarters, I came as soon as I could." The psi held up a little thing that looked like a very fancy and new cell-phone, but was presumably also linked to the Special Unit radio frequency.

"And what do you hope to accomplish?" Max asked him, his voice even more dangerous. "Your powers are strong, but you could never triumph over all four of us, all by yourself."

"No," he said evenly. "But... but I don't need to triumph alone. Pierce has landed in San Francisco. Almost certainly, he's coming here as quickly as he can. All that I need to do is wear you down a little and delay you, and then he'll be able to catch up with you, and you'll be toast." Pierce's name sent a chill through me, and probably through Michael as well. For a second I was actually confused by the references to Pierce as a *he*, before I remembered that that was the false front that Ms Pierce had cultivated, to keep her rivals and enemies, in the Special unit and elsewhere, from attacking her. This guy wasn't in on the secret - we were some of the very few who had penetrated to Pierce's true identity. Hmmm.

"Well, what if we just leave?" Max asked, gesturing Liz and Tess away, backing towards the van himself. "So that you can't..." All of a sudden - Max broke off, and I had the sudden sensation of mighty forces pulling me in opposite directions. Then... then the struggle was over, but I was so tired, and warm, familiar arms were carrying me. I struggled to come back to greater awareness, and ended up in the back of the Special Unit sedan, with Max and Michael on either side of me. "Are... are you feeling okay, Maria? Nothing... oh, god, she could have brain damage, and she wouldn't even know how to tell me..."

"Umm... I don't think I have brain damage," I muttered woozily. "Maybe you're right that it'd be hard to tell, but I just feel tired and a bit headachey..."

"Can you smile for me, Maria?" Max's voice was insistent.

"Umm... don't really feel like smiling..."

"It's important."

"Do it, sweetie," Michael chimed in. "If you possibly can." Feeling very confused, I plastered a big grin onto my face as best I could.

"Raise both arms up as high as you can and keep them raised," Max next ordered. I did that. "And repeat after me - 'It is sunny out today.'"

"It is sunny out today. Except that really it isn't - very cloudy day in Santa Fe. Max, what the heck was all this?"

"Umm... well, I thought that was worth a try, and you passed with flying colors. Umm... that was a stroke test that I remembered from... well, they made Isabel and I memorize it when my grandfather on my mother's side was coming to Roswell. He was in a high-risk group, and I guess the repetition really stuck with me." He sighed. "Not sure how well the same tests apply to someone who might have been brain-damaged from psionic attacks, but it's the only thing I could think of."

"WHAT HAPPENED?" I nearly screamed.

"That Special unit Psi - he attacked you to force our hand," Michael said. "I protected you as best I could, but he was really tricky, and so Max went on the offensive, with - with Nacero's backup."

"I... I didn't want to drag things out," Max muttered. "Settling everything once and for all seemed like the best way, before Pierce could really get any closer." He sighed. "And... and I didn't want to really hurt him. But... but he must have either been very determined, or he got frightened from the fireceness of my initial attack." He let out a long breath. "Over - he accidentally overspent his power on defense and died." Max let out a long breath, and I knew that the idea of somebody dead because of him must really upset him, no matter what the circumstances. "So... so we had to get out as quickly as possible - Liz found out that the keys were still in this car, and..."

"Wait a second," I muttered. "What about... do the Special Unit have some way of tracking this thing??"

"We shut down the radio," Tess said, from the direction of the front seat. "Michael scanned for radio and other long-range EM emissions - there's nothing clearer than randomized heat. We're off the Special Unit radar - except that Pierce can probably track Nacero's mind wherever he goes anyway."

"Not just Nacero," Max pointed out. "I think Pierce still has a bead on me too. But that doesn't matter." He took a deep breath. "We're heading to a place where we can have it out with Her and not need to fear." There was a short pause. "Well, with as little fear as possible, anyway."

"Just what was the plan again?" I said. "I, umm, I probably wasn't following that closely when you and Isabel were talking about it, and - well, it's been a busy little while. Something about... about tapping into a greater power than Pierce's?"

"Yeah, something like that," Michael said. "Umm... do you really need me to go through it all from the start?"

I thought about that. "No, actually. Just hold me close and let me know when they get there."

"Deal." Of course, because we were both belted in, Michael couldn't give me a really satisfying hug, even though we were right next to each other, but it was some comfort anyway. "How... how did things go in the office, anyway? With Tess' mom and everything?"

"Missions accomplished," Tess put in. "Mom's fine, and the people in the office were calmly neutralized without permanent harm." She sighed, and I smiled at the thought. "Oh, and Michael's face got burnt off. Max put it back together again."

"What? Eww!!!" I turned around to stare at Michael's face. It looked the same as ever, down to the... well, actually, the faint trace of a scratch above his eyebrow looked even fainter, as if it had been faded when Max had been healing other things. Aside from that, he looked great. "How... how badly burnt are we talking about??"

"Probably better not to give you the gory details," Michael replied. "Actually, I was never really sure myself, and Max didn't fill me in on anything juicy. Ooops," he continued, probably noticing an expression on my face. "I guess that was the wrong choice of words to use."

"Ya think??" I made a big sigh. "Well, thanks anyway Max. Glad that you were around... makes me feel a *little* less nervous about this sort of thing."

"I just hope that... well, that any injuries we take in the final confrontation with Pierce, I'll be able to heal so easily," Max muttered. "Both from the angle of means and opportunity." He sighed. "It'll be a little while before we get there. Better rest while you can, brother."

"Okay," Michael agreed. "Don't worry. We'll kick ass."

-----------

ALEX:

I looked around dubiously at the area that the two cars had been parked in. "The Santa Fe Country Power New Mexico plant??"

"Yep," Isabel said, slipping her arm around my waist. "Only place that we could get what we need. God, I hope that it works."

"But... but won't there be too many people around? If they notice you - if they ask what's going on. God, Pierce could use innocent workers as hostages?"

"There aren't that many people in the installation, and most of them are in the control centers," Isabel pointed out. "It's down among the turbines that we'll find the key, and nobody really spends much time there. Partly because it's incredibly noisy and unpleasant smelling... but that's the price we'll have to pay. Maybe a few security guards stand between us and there, but we should be able to convince them that they don't see anything, or distract them long enough to slip through." She sighed slightly.

"Well, we'd better go quickly," Nacero added. "Pierce will be here in less than five minutes, I think, and you'll want to be where you need to be before she catches up. We can't count on this thing to defend us."

"Say, I was meaning to ask, buddy," I said, as we headed towards the noisiest part of the plant building. "What did you ever do with the other orb?"

As usual, Nacero acted like he didn't even hear when I talked to him. Maybe, in a weird way, he didn't. He said that he wasn't human enough to communicate with us effectively, or something along those lines, and maybe that was more literal than I thought. Or... or maybe truly human conversation was so.... so alien to him, so confusing, that he'd learned to ignore it, like I've learned to ignore when my mom sings hymns when she's by herself in the parlour, and so now he... maybe he COULD pay attention to me, if he thought that it was important, but he doesn't as a matter of habit. Hmm.

I'm not quite clear what did happen with the security guards - there was definitely some kind of a delay before we could slip through, but I didn't see one so I somehow suspect that none of them saw any of us. We hurriedly came in among the turbines - big, enormous things, like a giant forest - no, like a giant's orchard, because though they were much larger than trees, they were still laid out in rows and columns, so that when you were standing at the right spot you could see a clear path all the way out of the field of them. "Nobody wander too far," Max warned. "We don't want Pierce or her people to be able to pick off stragglers."

There seemed really to be fairly little danger of that - everybody wanted to crowd close, to the point where everybody was trying to get into the same spaces between the energy trees. (Nobody wanted to be in the open spots where they were visible from four directions, though it was pretty hard to avoid at least passing through them.) Isabel led the way, so I was trying to keep up with her - it was as if she was trying to find something or some spot and couldn't quite decide or figure out where it was.

All of a sudden, Michael let out a soft cry, and I realized that something had started. Max crossed over to Isabel and Nacero stepped near Michael. I hung around, and it was vaguely as if I was able to sense a faint impression of what was going on *through* Isabel, directly from her mind to mine, as hard as that seems to believe, considering that I'm not an alien or a psi or anything. But still... I could sense Pierce and a group of five lackeys, each of them frighteningly strong psis, crossing the guard threshold without worrying about the guards, heading in among the turbines with us. The four aliens struck at a distance, avoiding Pierce and concentrating on her comerades - Pierce tried to defend them, but the guys, especially Max, and especially especially Nacero using the Orb, were relentless, and Pierce soon realized that four of her backup were badly wounded enough that she couldn't risk bringing them into combat - not that they'd serve her well there anyway. I could sense the fury as she charged towards us, along with her one remaining counselor.

"Max Evans!" Pierce called from nearby, but still not quite in a line of sight yet. "I... I admit I didn't expect you to be this resourceful. But all of your cleverness and your unearthly techniques will still eventually profit you none. You cannot hope to prevail against me."

"No?" Max asked. "If you think so, then why are you afraid to step out and face us down?"

"Why are you??" Pierce asked meanly. As Isabel trembled slightly, worried about what that notion might mean, Pierce did indeed step out from around a turbine, so that all of us could see her and she could see us, with the four aliens in the lead of our formation.

"Now," Isabel muttered. Max and Michael joined hands, and the noise that we had been shouting above screeched much louder, and then faded to a dull whine. They had tried to draw on the entire power of the generators and wield it as a weapon against Pierce. The lackey fell to the ground from behind the turbine in the same place that Pierce had emerged. But Pierce herself, staggered, but she remained standing, and smiled... as Isabel wilted against Max, and the guys didn't seem that steady either.

"That was stupid," Pierce decided. "I admit I've never seen this particular variation on it, but focusing on conventional energy - on physical power, is a common enough rookie mistake. Surprised that they were able to draw you into it, Mister Nacero, since you've been around the block a few times. Of course, you had more than enough true thought-power to back it up and give me a hell of a fight, but all that it took was a better fundamental understanding of the meaning of our powers to resist all four of you. Now - I admit I'm a little puffed, but you guys are on your dregs. So this is how things are going to go. Shapewalker, you're going to hand me that little toy you've got in your free hand - it won't help you anymore now, and I might be able to get some use out of it now. And all of you are going to lower your defenses, and let me put you all to sleep until I can call enough vans and serfs to have you all dragged away. DeLuca, Whitman, you guys will probably come off the luckiest. I'll want to have you go through a thorough examination, but you'll be able to go home to your families in a day or two - with your memories adjusted by quite a bit, naturally. Liz, our time together last go round was interrupted, but I don't think I'll need to keep you around that long either, even if Max's healing powers created some unusual results for my lab boys. But the four of you who came from beyond Earth's sun - you won't be seeing that light again for a LONG long time."

"And what, then about the Harding clan? What do you think I should do about a family full of human traitors to the people of this planet, who've turned against me again and again despite repeated warnings? Death's too good for you, but I'm not sure what I can come up with that's worse. Maybe just drag the dying out a lot."

"You know, I still don't see that happening," Max muttered. "We may not have much power left, but your psi edge is slim at this point." He took a deep breath. "Not enough to overwhelm us all."

"You know... you're probably right, Max!" Pierce declared. "Good thing I'm not really alone here." There was a bit of puzzled sounds from all of us at that. "Oh, but of course you DIDN'T realize that. Come on out, Jim."

I looked left and right, and then risked a glance behind me. From behind another turbine on our flank emerged Jim Valenti, pointing a gun and moving closely. "Mister Valenti!" Maria squeaked. "Michael, how come you didn't, umm, know..."

"Oh, I've cloaked him from psionic senses," Pierce put in. "Not that difficult for a mind of relatively low base strength. Yeah, Isabel knows what I'm talking about - you haven't had an occasion to try it yourself, have you? And, let me warn, that in addition to his stealth powers and that gun, Jim Valenti has a few other abilities up his sleeve, courtesy me. But you're not going to force him to use them, are you, Max, because first off - he's going to make sure that Liz gets shot - again. And this time, you don't have enough juice to heal her." Pierce chuckled. "I bumped into Jim, he was sneaking around my base in Roswell before I left town. Was worried about you, imagine that, and trying to make sure that you hadn't been hurt." Danielle Pierce shook her head. "Now, drop the orb and surrender. NOW!!"

I looked into Isabel's face, and her gaze held no hope at all.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	23. Part 6d

LIZ:

No, no way.

It could not, CAN NOT, end like this.

I looked around, at the turbines of the Santa Fe power station where Isabel had taken us for a final showdown against Danielle Pierce of the special unit. The turbines were quiet now, except for a dim whine that might be just one of them off in the distance. Isabel, Max, Michael, and Nacero had seized on all of their power to stop Pierce's psi abilities, and it wasn't quite enough. The struggle had worn all five of them out - but now a new threat had appeared. Jim Valenti, the sheriff, the alien hunter, had been given terrible powers by Pierce before she came here, and now he was in her sway. He was pointing a gun at me, and Pierce said that if the four aliens didn't surrender to her, she would make him shoot me. Max was right next to me, but... but he couldn't save me. He didn't have enough energy left to repair a gunshot wound.

However... there was something, some deep power within me, and maybe it was the one critical factor that Pierce had forgotten to take into account, for all that she had nurtured it to use it as a weapon against Max, just as she had given Valenti abilities to use him as a weapon against both of us, against all of our group. That was... was very much her style, I suddenly realized. She loved trying to turn people into weapons, particularly against people they cared for. Everybody in the world were just tools to her, and for that, more than anything else, I wanted to see her destroyed.

So... so what could I do? Before... before I had even finished asking the question, I was... was trying to do it. I was *thinking* at Valenti, at that core of personality that I knew was lurking down underneath the layers of control and manipulation that Pierce had laid down. *You... you don't want to do this, do you, Mister Valenti?? You... you once told Maria that you wanted to protect her, from anything and everything. To protect everyone in Roswell. Well, we're from Roswell, even Max, Michael, and Isabel - even Nacero, in a way, and we - we need your protection more than anything right now. From Pierce. You... you've been seduced by her, figuratively if not literally, but I believe that you know, deep down, that she's in the wrong here, and that the right thing to do is to help US against HER, and not the other way around. You... you don't want her to be able to use you as a tool, any more than I did, do you?? Just - just...* I petered out at that point, partly because I had no real evidence that what I was doing was getting through. Maybe I didn't have any real telepathic power, and I was just thinking words at myself. Maybe it could have worked if Valenti weren't so deeply gone. Or maybe I was getting through - but that was the other thing. What did I want him to do? To just refuse to shoot us, and let us take our chance against what was left of Pierce's powers? To try to shoot her? Or... well, Pierce had said that she'd given him powers, although she was vague about the details. Did I want Jim Valenti to use those powers against her??

Right then, Nacero made a break for it. WITH the Power orb that had helped us to get this far. Dammit... well, maybe I couldn't blame him that much. He... he didn't really have that much reason to sacrifice himself for my sake, and he had some justification in trying to keep the Orb away from Pierce I guess. Valenti suddenly moved the gun in his direction and shot, but the shapeshifter didn't seem to be affected. Pierce glared, and a rock threw itself at Nacero, a lightning bolt shot out of one of the turbines, but he just kept going. Maybe he was using what was left of his alien powers and the power orb, or maybe not, I'm not sure. Pierce grumbled, but apparently decided not to worry about chasing him any more, because she'd have to take her attention away from the rest of us, and maybe get jumped from behind.

"I... I don't care that Max had nothing to do with it," she said to Valenti. "Shoot Liz. Nothing immediately fatal, yet. Maybe a shoulder wound."

Valenti pointed the gun at me, concentrated - and Pierce screamed. It took more than a few seconds for me to realize that he had done the thing that I hadn't even put specifically into a transmission for him. Valenti had used his loaned powers to attack Pierce, to cripple her defenses. Valenti sank into a pained crouch - whether she had been able to counterattack, or if it was just the exertion of using that much power that he hadn't been prepared to withstand, I didn't know. Even though I was very grateful, Valenti wasn't my first priority. "Max..." I said, squeezing the arm that he was still holding Isabel with.

"Right," Max said, and he glared at Pierce, with Isabel and Michael... they were concentrating on giving him all the scraps of thought power that they had left, I could tell. Now, even without Nacero, the tables had been turned, and they had the advantage. Max stepped up to her. "I... I could kill you now, but I don't want to, or want to have to," he said. "Your psi powers have been bound, but they can yet be restored too. All... all that we want is to be left alone. Never bothered by the Special Unit, or any psis, ever again. That includes Tess and her family, Valenti and Kyle, as well as all my other friends." He took a deep breath. "Swear to me that you will see to this, to the best of your ability, and we have no quarrel with you."

"You... you would bind me to my word, wouldn't you?" Pierce asked. "Did the Shapewalker teach you how to do that, or that stupid metal football of his? If... if I say the words, no matter what I mean in my mind, because you have the advantage over me you could force me to live up to it." Max nodded slightly. "Well... well I'll never give you the satisfaction, you piece of crap. Even... even if I can't use you to increase my own power, I would never let you be free in my country... on my own world. I... I KNOW that the fact that you were sent here means no good for humanity, and eventually someone else will expose you, and you cannot force me to cover for you..."

"I see," Max muttered. "Then I guess I have no other choice." He paused a moment, and Danielle Pierce sprawled onto the rough ground. Somehow I knew for certain that she was dead now. "Hey, hey there bud!" He walked over to the other special unit guy, who was starting to stir. Maybe Max had used his powers to revive him.

"Huh, wha??" He scrambled to his feet, took in the scene, and looked a bit sadly at the body of his leader. "Is... is she...?"

"Dead, yeah," Max said. "I... I realize that this doesn't look good for us, but she gave us no choice. I was... I've been fighting for my life here!" He took a deep breath. "If I offer you the same truce that I offered Danielle... would you take it? Do you have the authority?"

"I... yes, and not really," he replied. "But... but somehow I think that nobody will be that keen on continuing her quest now. I'll... I'll take your message to the others, to whoever ends up replacing her. Maybe that person will contact you with a peaceful message - or maybe not. I'm not really sure." He sighed. "But... well, I've got my hands full here, and I certainly couldn't have kept you from escaping..."

"Right," Max said. I stepped up towards him. Was... was it going to be this easy? Not that it had been terribly easy so far, but... I looked around. Tony, Maria, and Alex were deep in conversation with Mister Valenti, who seemed understandably confused about what was going on. Max stepped close to me. "I... I need you to get out of town. Umm... take the van. North on Eighty-four to Tierre Amarilla and find a motel there. We'll find you." He hugged me. "I... I hope that this sort of precautions aren't necessary, that we can just go back to Roswell and start living our old lives again, but..."

"I... I understand, Max," I said. "And... I'll do my best to keep everyone else safe. But you... the three of you are going after Nacero??"

His mouth quirked at the edge slightly. "I'm sorry, yeah. We... we still need to get a few more answers from him - maybe now that Pierce is toast, and if it's just the four of us in the Tri-gon, he'll talk."

"Okay, good luck," I assured Max, throwing my arms around him for a quick hug. "Come back soon." And so we went. Isabel and Alex, Michael and Maria were having their own little goodbyes, and then we headed back to the cars before splitting up. All seven of us who were fully human crowded into the van, while Max, Isabel, and Michael got into the special unit sedan and headed off. I hoped that Nacero hadn't been heading too far over terrain that a car like that really couldn't handle.

----------

MAX:

We pulled up beside a tired-looking figure who'd been walking along the desert flats, just a little ways from the road. Efrarv had changed his shape again - maybe he'd been getting ready to try hitching a lift once he thought he was far away from the Special Unit. He looked very short now, and faintly asian, with bright, inquisitive eyes. "Hey, man, no need to worry. We took care of Pierce. Just... still have a few questions about the bigger picture," Michael started.

"Ques - questions?" Efrarv asked, like this was a completely new and foreign concept to him.

"Yeah, you know," I said. "Things that we wonder about... about the reason that we were sent here. About the other aliens. That kind of thing."

Efrarv laughed shortly. "How... how can you still not understand these things?" he asked bitterly. "Don't you have... have the epistle that was left for you in the secret place of your emergence?"

"What, this thing?" Isabel asked. From a pocket in her leather jacket she brought out the little accordion book. "Yeah, we have this, but we... we don't know what the letters and the words mean."

For a moment, Efrarv looked stricken. "You... you never learned," he whispered. "There was no one to teach you the meanings." Suddenly I realized that this was a bit of common ground. Nacero hadn't been taught about human words and languages, thought he'd been able to learn some himself. And then a bit of the old anger resurfaced. "Well, I won't stand here and... and speak it out for you, like a father telling stories to his children before they sleep. That is *not* my place." And he reached out, and touched Isabel for a moment, and she gasped in sudden comprehension.

"How... how did you do that so quickly?" she breathed for a second.

"You - you can read it now, Isabel?" Michael asked her.

For answer, Isabel started to read aloud. "Once, a long time ago... there were people who travelled the stars. They took whatever shapes pleased them, and had incredible games and sports, and their lives were good. Sometimes on the planets that they came to, there were other people or animals that the people of the stars could talk to, who shared the same sense of... of fun, and they delighted in learning from or teaching all of them, and exchanging favorite toys and keepsakes. Occasionally they came upon people who were intelligent but not as fun, and the people of the stars tended to avoid trying to play with them, because it didn't tend to work out happily."

I'd been leaning over Isabel's shoulder as she read this much, (which was just a few little pages,) and suddenly she handed me the book, touching my fingers with her own as she did, and whatever Efrarv did to her must have been passed on to me. Stunned only slightly by this effect, I continued reading. "Then, the people of the stars first came to a beautiful blue planet spinning around a yellow sun, and found that there were living beings who had spread across it not like any that they had ever known before. These 'earthlings' fought against each other in giant brawls that involved thousands or more of their people at a time, and ended the lives of many, without being able to find a better way of agreeing to settle their differences. They built strange machines that they thought would make their lives better, but were ruining the beauty of their planet, and the people of the stars did not understand them at ALL." Have to admit, sometimes I feel the same way about human beings.

"And so the people of the stars were pinched in by their circumstances. They could not communicate with the Earthlings without understanding, and yet they feared that they could not afford to ignore them, for the citizens of Earth were trying to develop machines that could take them away from their planet, and eventually among the stars, and build terrible bombs that could cause much destruction. Eventually they might become people who could travel the stars too, and there would have to be understanding between the two groups before then. So one of those who had travelled the furthest and leaned the most said this. 'The earthlings procreate their kind from coming together two by two, just as we do in our own way. By taking a small thing from the body of the Earthling as a source, and taking of myself similarly, I can procreate a person who is half of our kind and half of theirs. He will be our go-between, able to understand both people and explain each to the other, and in this way, maybe, after much work and patience, there will be peace and harmony between us.' And the other people of the stars agreed, so in due time it was done as he had said, and a man was sent to the Earth who was both of the Earth and the stars.'"

Michael was getting antsy, so at this point I passed over the book, and shared the understanding of reading with him, so that he could continue. We all suspected what was coming at this point, I think. "But... but when the Man went among Earthlings, still he could not understand them, and they did not understand him and were afraid of him, and he did not know why. The man went back and used a power stone that the people of the stars had left him to talk with them, and they told him, 'Because you cannot accomplish this task, for which you have been created, you are a failure and have no place among our kind either.' The man was... was sorely distressed when he heard these words, for he had been rejected by both the peoples that he had come from, and in his distress he wandered the lands of men, seeking to avoid the attention of those Earthlings who would hurt him."

"But some of the people of the stars said, 'Well, even though our first attempt at bringing onto the earth a go-between have failed, we believe we see the mistake that was made. Human children learn much from their procreators, when they are young and their bodies are still growing, their minds are also developing, they are empty vessels with which to learn the languages and the customs of other Earthlings. Our man had not the opportunity to learn these things, for that he was grown to adult size quickly, and among us, so that he learned our ways instead of theirs. Let us... let us instead bring our intermediary to Earth as a little child, that he or she may be accepted into an Earthling household as one whose parents were slain by their enemies or killed by the wild creatures of that world, so that they might be taught by them as... as substitute parents."

Michael passed back to Isabel. "And... and then many of the other people of the stars came up with other ideas, because they did not want the second plan to fail as the first had, for it would take long for their mixed child to grow up as Earthlings did. Some said, 'Let us send more than one child, since he would not know us and may despair at not being like the other Earthlings, but if there are several, they may find each other and be comforted. Also, one may succeed where another fails.' And another said, 'Yes, and also they should be male and female both, as the earthlings are, for the two varieties of Earthlings often seem to not fully understand each other.' So... so it was done, although the children could not be sent out among earthlings when they were very young, for the children of the stars could not make them so that they would pass for earth children until they had grown some. And they were given the two power stones, one with which they could talk to the children of the stars when they had learned enough, and one with which they could defend themselves against earthlings who might seek to harm them."

Most of both sides of the accordion book had been finished, and Isabel looked up at both of us. "There's... there's a shift in the language patterns here - from a descriptive mode to a more direct form of address. 'You are those babes - child both to the humanity of earth and of we wanderers of the Galaxy. Learn all that you can of the human condition, and then tell us what you have understood, that we may begin to cross the gap that was insurmountable to us alone. Prosperity and success to you."

"So... so that's the story," I said, realizing that Isabel had come to the end. "The... the reason why we're here. But... but how horrible for you, Efrarv." I looked up at him. "You... you couldn't be accepted by humans, because of THEIR mistake - because they hadn't realized what was necessary to bridge the gap the first time around, but they blamed you for it and rejected you as well, making you a scapegoat." Of course, Efrarv probably didn't understand the metaphor of scape goats, but it just kinduv slipped out before I could stop myself.

"And... and that's what you hated us for," Michael added. "What you thought that we'd taken away from you. That we were the heirs to the connection that you had been denied... beloved of the Travellers that hated you. That totally sucks. I'm not sure if we even WANT to tell them what we know about humans."

"More than that," Isabel said. "They were trying to build a bridge from their race to humans, but they never stopped to think that the bridge might have more than one step. We... we understand humans, and we can guess a bit of what the aliens are like, but I'm not sure that we'd be able to communicate directly to them." She looked straight at Efrarv. "But... but we've learned to communicate with you - and you can speak to the Travellers, if they'll only *listen* to you! If they can only admit that they were wrong to spurn you, that you're a part of the solution."

And... and Efrarv smiled slightly, thinking of that. "And... and the power stone has done its job, with your help," he said, softly. "Those who want to hurt us - to experiment on us to find the secrets of the travellers - they are destroyed."

"Well, one of them is destroyed," I said, taking a deep breath. "We don't know yet if there are others who will come after us. Is there still any good juice in that thing, or is it useless now?"

Efrarv held up the power stone. "It will recover somewhat over time," he said. "Not as much as I will, but it will retain more than half its effectiveness."

"Okay, let's go and find the others," Isabel said, pulling Efrarv back towards the car. We piled in. "You know, I've been wondering about one particular thing. We... we were sent here to experience the full human condition. I... I wonder if that was specifically supposed to include romantic love. If... if that's why we've all - all found someone special. A human teacher."

"Stranger things have happened," I said, smiling at the thought and wondering how Liz would react to the idea. "And... and you've learned more about humanity than the Travellers ever expected, Efrarv, over the years. Am I right?" He nodded tentatively. "You've learned even more over the past few days and weeks, because of this crisis, and maybe found a teacher of your own. A human uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between human and alien."

"Wait, who's that??" Efrarv asked.

----------

MARIA

"Oh, come on, what's all this for?" I asked as Michael helped me out of my mom's new car, a shiny white '96 Toyota.

"Well... partly just as a congratulations for passing all your finals and getting B grades," Michael said, kissing me and leading the way into the Crashdown. "Nothing fancy, just thought I'd take you someplace I could definitely afford to pay the bill." I giggled a bit idiotcially. "And... and it turns out that there's something else to celebrate too." He whispered in my ear as we went through the back of the restaurant. "Max heard from someone at the Special Unit today. Truce accepted. They won't bother us if we don't bother them." He watched my face as we got settled down and opened up menus. "Is... is something wrong about that? I - I kinda thought that it was really good news."

"Well... well, in a way it is," I admitted, keeping my own voice really low. "I'm... I'm overjoyed at the idea that we're all safe and don't worry about secret societies plotting against us. On the other hand... well, I guess I can't keep myself from thinking that we're not the only people that they've ever hurt. Maybe if you restrict it to people using the 'Special Unit' name, though I doubt that they haven't killed some people to get more information about the four of you. But... but the greater Psi society, the Orbus Manuum. They've got their fingers in every pie baking in the whole world, as it were, and they're the kind of people to take way more than their fair share. Anyone... anyone who got in their way, who happens to have something that one of them wants, or who's seen something that they're worried about becoming known... aside from the four of you, nobody could stand against them. Even decent human Psis like Tess and her mom are too scared of the bad ones to... to do anything."

Michael waited a long moment, and then reached out to brush a bit of hair away from my eyes. "Yeah... yeah, I know. But - but we can't take them down right now anyway. We don't know enough about our own powers, and if we tried to start a fight, we'd probably just end up hurting more innocent people. So... so maybe we just sit tight, here in Roswell, grow up, and bide our time." He smiled slightly at me. "And, don't forget, we've got our own mission to worry about, which has nothing to do with psis or the Secret societies."

"It... it has a little to do with psis as long as Tess keeps spending so much time with Nac... with Efrarv," I said, still feeling that the shapeshifter's true personal name was at once weird and forbidden, even though he'd told the four of us kids that he didn't mind us using it. Me, Liz, Alex, and Tess. "Do... do you really think that they... that they might work as a couple? Like... like us, or Max and Liz? I mean, heck, he's been around since 1947."

"And... and he still understands less of the world than any of us do, in the ways that count," Michael said softly. "That kinduv makes him a child. Maybe Tess can be the older woman, and make a man out of him." He chuckled. "Or maybe not. I dunno. Still, if anyone can help him bridge the culture gap, it'd be she. Maybe that's why she was born with her unique power in the first place."

"Yeah. Hmm... I think I'm in the mood for a Plutonium platter," I decided. "You?"

"Aww, give me an Eclipse burger, some saturn rings, and I'm good," he drawled. "Hard... hard to believe all that's happened in so short a time."

"Yeah, when Ms Topolsky came b..." I shook my head in surprise. "Wait a second. What the heck happened to Topolsky!?"

"What, you can't remember that?" Michael grinned slightly. "She stayed with River Dog... figured that we'd have too many bodies heading up to Santa Fe as it was, and she'd be safe enough there. Seems to have worked out." He sighed. "Isabel, Alex, and I went up to see her yesterday, and she's still fine. Hoping to go back east, to her hometown, and talk to her Mom before figuring out what to do next. She probably doesn't have much of a career left with the FBI anymore, which is a little unfortunate, but..." He sighed. "Maybe she'll actually go into high school education for real."

"Well, that would be... weird," I said. Then we ordered our dinner and beverages.

"Oh, I was meaning to ask," Michael said. "How... how's Alex's grandfather doing?"

"Really great," I told him with a smile. "We... we still aren't sure if it was a plot or something, but if it was, it apparently wasn't anything that would seriously hurt him. Alex's folks got home yesterday morning." I sighed. "I think he's upset that he didn't actually get to spend much time over at Isabel's house or anything like that."

"Oh, just give him time," Michael said. "Umm. not that he'll actually be moving in with Mister and Mrs Evans, but... well, he won't be upset for too long, if I know... my sister." He smiled at that thought. "And Max and Liz... boy, they're really starting to piss me off with all that lovey-dovey stuff." I sighed an 'oh, man, I KNOW' sigh. "And the worst thing is, when I find them totally sliding into second base on my couch and manage to pry them apart, all Max tells me is that he was hard at work on the mission of finding out about this thing that earthlings call 'Going steady.'

I laughed about that. "Well, I guess the next big question is - what are we going to do to celebrate the start of summer??"

Michael grinned that irresistable grin at me. "Well, let's start to think about the possibilities. Isn't there a water park open this time of year down in Carlsbad?"

"That's not the only possibility," I told him. Hmm... Michael in swimming trunks. "But yeah, that's definitely a good one. What else??"

THE END.


End file.
